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LIVES 

OF THE 

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES; 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES 

OF THE 

SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; 

SKETCHES OF THE 

MOST REMARKABLE EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY 




President's Houae, at Washington. 



BY ROBERT W. LINCOLN 



EMBELLISHED WITH 



\ PORTRAIT OF EACH OF THE PRESIDENTS, 



FORTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD KEARNY, 

272 PEARI. STREET. 



?'^S, 






SIFT 
«,„«TATE OF 

»*'Wiir Of CONGRESS 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1842, 
BY EDWARD KEARNY, 

in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 



"^U.V1 »^' 



PREFACE. 



In writing the Lives of the Presidents of the United States, il 
has been difficult to preserve the strict impartiahty which the 
nature of the work requires, and avoid running either into eulogy 
or abuse The circumstances of their administration are so recent, 
that one who has hved through the greater portion of them and 
entered into all the excited feelings of party strife, can hardly be 
supposed capable of divesting himself of prejudices and passions, 
however much he may desire to be an honest chronicler of the 
times. We can only say, that it has been our sincere aim and 
endeavor to see near events with the eye of a distant spectator 
and to anticipate the dispassionate judgment which posterity will 
pass upon the great men who have administered our Government. 
The affairs of the last twenty years are hardly yet ripe lor the 
bio-rapher, and the materials for their history are scattered in 
various directions, and to be drawn from many different sources. 
That all those sources should be pure, is more than can be expect- 
ed ; but we have uniformly endeavored to resort only to those 
least exposed to suspicion. , ,. . ^ 

For the materials of our work, we owe much obligation to many 
distinguished writers. To the Lives of the Signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, by a gentleman who has done a great deal 
for the illustration of American history, we have been much 
indebted in the course' of the volume, and particularly in our 
summary of their biographies. To the eloquent eulogist of Mr 
Monroe, to Marshall, Bancroft, Ramsay, Thacher, T"dor W rt, 
Lee, Jefferson, Irving, Knapp, the author of a Biographical Sketch 
of J. Q. Adams, Goodrich, Hinton, the editor of American Anec- 
dotes, the author of the History of the United States, published 



b PREFACE. 

in Lardner's Cyclopaedia, to Eaton, Goodwin, the editors of the 
Annual Register and North American Review, and many others, 
of whose labors we have had occasion to avail ourselves, we take 
this opportunity of noticing our repeated obligations. It is idle, in 
a work of this description, to pretend to originality, and unfair not 
to acknowledge the sources to which we have been indebted. 

We hope that our readers will find in this work all that has 
been promised, and indeed more. Of its imperfections no one can 
be more aware than ourself ; but of its impartiality and honesty 
we believe that no one will have reason to doubt. 

R. W. LINCOLN. 

New- York, July 20, 1833. 



DCr" The publisher deems it proper to state, that the sketches of 
Presidents Harrison and Tyler have been prepared by another 
gentleman, and are now first published in the present edition of 
this work. Several errors which escaped notice in former editions, 
have been corrected in this, and it is believed this volume presents 
the only complete Biography extant of all the Presidents of the 
United States. 

New- York, August, 1842. 



CONTENTS. 



Lives or the Presidents - 1 

George Washington — 1 

John Adams ....^. ....... 71 

Thomas Jefferson - - - «.... 97 

James Madison...^ ..131 

Tames Monre ......— .>........................ — ^ — ,^.....178 

John Quincy Adams _............>.. _...-.-... -.237 

Andrew Jackson ...>..«. ....-...>. ^..^.^......373 

Martin Van Buren _ ^ 325 

William Henry Harrison ^.^.. . ...357 

John Tyler 393 

James K.' Polk.. .„........__ 1 

Lives of the Signers - - ► 1 

Samuel Adams ^..... >.. 1 

Josiah Bartlet ..^j. _ 3 

Carter Braxton 5 

Charles Carroll »-. 6 

Samuel Chase »..>... 12 

Abraham Clarke 14 

George Clymer ^ _., ^ 15 

William Ellery 17 

William Floyd l8 

-Benjamin Franklin 18 

Elbridge Gerry ^. 22 

Button Gwinnett 2rt 

Lyman Hall _.. i;'6 

John Hancock . 27 

Benjamin Harrison ».„ 29 

John Hart „ .».......- «— .-•.. 30 

Joseph Hewes .^ ..... . 3i 

Thomas Hey ward 33 

William Hooper. „> 34 

Stephen Hopkins. _,...... 35 

Francis Hopkinson . __-.»...... . 36 

Samuel Huntington _ ...» — _.- 37 

Francis Lightfoot Lee ^.. .->._.- .^ 38 

Richard Henry Lee ......._^ ,..^ ^.„ 40 

Francis Lewis ^. .. ^.. 42 



JT. CONTENTS. 

Philip Livingston „._.. - — ......^ — —— 43 

Thomas Lynch .^^ ». .- ^..^ ... ^.. ... 45 

Thomas M'Kean 46 

Arthur Middleton 4? 

Lewis Morris ............ ... 48 

Robert Morris 49 

John Morton 51 

Thomas Nelson, Jr 52 

WiUiamPaca 53 

Robert Treat Paine 53 

John Penn...... 55 

George Read...... 55 

Csesar Rodney . 56 

George Ross — — . 57 

Benjamin Rush 58 

Edward Riitledge 60 

Roger Sherman 60 

James Smitli 62 

Richard Stockton 63 

Thomas Stone .y. 64 

George Taylor - -. — 64 

Matthew Thornton 65 

George Walton 66 

William Whipple - 67 

William Williams 68 

James Wilson - 69 

John Witlierspoon 70 

Oliver Wolcott 71 

George Wythe 72 

Early History of America ..73 

Early Adventures in North America...... .. .......................... 95 

Settlement of the Southern States... ..................................101 

North and South Carolina .......................... 111 

Settlement of the Northern States...... .... ...... ...... ...... .... ...... ..117 

Fbench Wars 127 

Anecdotes of the Revolution 143 

GsNERAL View of tbs Unitsd Statss. .... ...... .... .. .... .... .... ...... .151 



LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

There is no individual whose life is more completely identified with 
ihe history of his country, than is that of George Washington. Notwith- 
standing the order, dignity, and beauty of his prisvate character, there are 
many whose private life would furnish much more interesting subjects to 
the pen of a biographer. The interest of his life depends upon more im- 
portant circumstances than personal adventure, or romantic incident. It 
rests upon his connexion with the great events, which led to the indepen- 
dence of his country, and which, in their still spreading and accumulating 
effects, may break up the institutions of tyranny all over the globe. 

George Washington was born at Bridge's Creek, in Westmoreland 
county, Virginia, on the twenty-second of February, 1732. He was the 
son of Augustine Washington, a descendant of one of the earliest settlers 
of the first English colony in America, who died when his son George was 
about ten years of age. The education of the orphan devolved upon his 
mother, who devoted herself to the task with a zeal and industry, for 
which she afterwards reaped an ample reward. The means of education 
at that period were of course very limited, and a grammatical knowledge 
of the English language, mathematics, history, natural and moral philoso- 
phy, formed the course of his youthful studies. Of this education, mathe- 
matics formed by far tlie most important part. This was of great advan- 
tage to him in early life, in qualifying him for the office of practical sur- 
veyor, and in later years in its connexion with military science. At 
the age of fifteen, he was desirous to enter into active life, and obtained 
the birth of a midshipman in the British navy ; but the anxiety of an af- 
fectionate mother dissuaded him from the adoption of this course of life. 
Of the early youth of Washington, no authentic anecdotes have been 
preserved. He has been described by his contemporaries as grave, silent, 
and thoughtful ; diligent in his business ; correct in his deportment, ond 
strictly honorable in all his conduct. His patrimony was small, but ma- 
aged with prudent industry. Of the estimation in which he was held, 
sven when quite young, we may judge, from his being appointed one of 
he adjutants general of Virginia, at the age of nineteen. When hardly 
wenty-one, he was employed by the government of his native colony in an 
enterprise of very considerable importance. 
1 



2 WASHINGTON 

The French were the first Europeaa dis^Vexers of the Mississippi, and 
claimed all those extensive regions whose waJfers emptied into that river. 
They had just formed a plan of connecting their possessions in America, 
by the union of Louisiana with Canada. In pursuance of this design, a 
line of military posts from the lakes to the Ohio had been commenced in 
the year 1 758. This territory was situated within the boundaries of Vir- 
ginia, and the governor of that province deemed it his duty to remonstrate 
against encroachments, which he considered in violation of previous 
treaties. He determined to send an agent to the French commandant on 
the Ohio, to convey his views upon this important and delicate subject 
For this purpose Mr. Washington was the person selected. 

In discharge of this trust, he set out about the middle of November, 
from Wills' Creek, tlien an extreme frontier settlement, and parsued his 
course over an unexplored tract of morasses and forests, over rivers of diffi 
cult passage, and among tribes of hostile Indians. Reaching the Moiion- 
gahela on the twenty-second, he there learned that the French general was 
dead, and that the greater part of the army had retired into winter quarters. 
He spent a kw days among the Indians, and very wisely secured tlie ser- 
vices of some of their chiefs, who guided him to the fort at French Creek, 
where he found the commanding officer on the Ohio. Delivering his let- 
ters, in three or four days he received an official reply, and immediately set 
out on his return. Finding the snow deep, and his horses weakened with 
fatigue, he determined to pursue his way on foot. He took his necessary 
papers, a gun and a pack, and wrapping himself in his watch-coat, set out 
with a single companion. On the day following, they fell in with a party 
of French Indians, one of whom fired upon them. They took this Indian 




WASHINGTON. c 

prisoner, and kept him until nine o'clock in the evening, when they re- 
leased him, and walked without stopping all the rest of the night, in order 
to be out of the reach of pursuit. 

As the answer of the French commandant indicated no disposition to 
withdraw from the disputed territory, the Assembly of Virginia determin- 
ed to maintain by force the rights of the British crown. A regiment waa 
mimediately raised of three hundred men. The command of this body 
was given to Mr. Fry, and Washington was appointed lieutenant colonel. 
Desirous to engage in active service, and take as early measures as possi- 
ble in defence of the colony, Washington obtained permission to march in 
advance of the other troops, to Great Meadows. On reaching this place, 
he learned from the friendly Indians that ^ party of the French were en- 
camped in a valley a few miles to the west. The night was dark and 
rainy, and entirely concealed the movements of the troops. They sur- 
rounded the French camp, and took it completely by surprise. The com- 
manding officer was killed, one person escaped, and all the rest immedi- 
ately surrendered. 

Soon after tiiis affair. Colonel Fry died, and the command of the regiment 
devolved upon Washington, who speedily collected forces at Great Mea- 
dows, to the number of four hundred men. A small stockade was erected, 
called Fort Necessity, in which a few soldiers were stationed to guard the 
horses and provisions, while the main body moved forward to dislodge the 
French from Fort Du duesne. They had not proceeded more than thir- 
teen miles, when they were informed by friendly Indians, "that the 
French, as numerous as pigeons in the woods, were advancing in an 
hostile manner towards the English settlements, and also, that Fort Du 
Quesne had been recently and strongly reinforced." In this critical situ- 
ation it was resolved to retreat to the Great Meadows, and every exertion 
was made to render Fort Necessity tenable. Before the completion of the 
works erecting for that purpose, the fort was attacked by a considerable 
force. The assailants were protected by trees and high grass. The 
Americans received them with great intrepidity, and Washington distin- 
guished himself by his coolness and address. The engagement continued 
from ten in the morning until dark, when the French general demanded 
a parley, and offered terms of capitulation. These were refused, but in 
the course of the night other proposals were accepted. The fort was sur- 
rendered on condition that the garrison sliould march out with the honors 
of war, should be permitted to retain tlieir arms and baggage, and to pro- 
ceed without molestation into the inhabited parts of Virginia. A public 
vote of thanks was given to Washington and the officers under his com- 
mand, for their conduct in this affair ; and three hundred pistoles were 
distributed among the soldiers. 

The controversy in respect to the Ohio lands, which commenced in 
Virginia, was taken up with much zeal in Great Britain, and two regiments 
were sent to America to support the pretensions of his Britannic majesty. 
They arrived early in 175.5, under the command of General Braddock, who 
iiivited Washington to serve the campaign as a volunteer aid-de-camp. 
This invitation he at once accepted, and joined the regiment on its march 
so Fort Cumberland. Here the army was detained till the twelfth of June, 



4 WASHINGTON 

waiting for wagons, horses and provisions. Soon after resuming their 
march, Washington was seized with a violent fever, but refusing to re- 
main behind the army, was conveyed with them in a covered wagon. 

The object of the campaign was the capture of Fort Du Quesne. 
Washington advised the general to leave his heavy artillery and baggage 
behind, and to press forward with a chosen body of troops as expeditiously 
as possible. This advice was adopted, and twelve hundred men were se- 
lected, to be commanded by General Braddock in |)erson, and to advance 
with the utmost despatch. This corps immediately commenced its 
march, but did not move with the celerity that had been expected. " I 
found," said Washington, in a letter to his brother, " that instead of push- 
ing on with vigor, without regarding a little rough road, they were halting 
to level every mole hill, and t6 erect bridges over every brook." They 
were four days in passing over the first nineteen miles from the Little 
Meadows. Here the sickness of Washington made it impossible for him 
to proceed on the march. General Braddock ordered him to stay behind 
with a small guard, till the arrival of Colonel Dunbar, with the rear di- 
vision of the army. As soon as his strength would permit, he rejoined the 
general, and immediately entered on the duty of his office. 

The next day was an eventful one in our early history. It was the ninth 
of July. General Braddock had crossed the Monongahela, and was pressing 
forward, with no apprehension of danger, to Fort Du Quesne. He was 
already within a few miles of his destination, marching on an open road 
thick set with grass, when on a sudden a heavy and well directed fire was 
opened upon his troops by an invisible enemy, consisting of the French 
and Indians. From their sheltered retreats they were able to take a safe 
and steady aim, and the officers of the British troops were slain in great 
numbers. In a short time Washington was the only aid-de-camp left 
alive and unvvounded. He was obliged consequently to carry all of the 
general's orders, to every part of the battle-field in person. In performing 




WASHINGTON. 

this duty, he had two horses killed under him, and four balls passed 
through his coat. " I expected every moment," says an eyewitness, " to 
see him fall. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could 
have saved him from the fate of all around him." 

During the whole course of the battle Braddock displayed the utmost 
intrepidity and firmness. He encouraged his men to keep their ground; 
but valor was useless, and he saw his army falling around him like grass 
under the scythe, without being able to render them any assistance. Un- 
acquainted with the Indian mode of fighting, his efforts to form his broken 
troops only exposed them more surely to the galling fire of the enemy. 
The action continued for three hours, in the course of which the general 
had three horses killed under him, and received himself a mortal wound. 
His troops immediately fled in great confusion. It was impossible to rally 
them, until they had crossed the Monongahela, and placed a river between 
themselves and their enemy. The Indians were too much occupied with 
the plunder, to think of continuing the pursuit. Braddock was carried to 
the camp of Dunbar, where in a few days he died. 

On this occasion the British officers behaved with admirable bravery, 
but the common soldiers broke into confusion in spite of every effort to 
rally them, and fled like sheep before hounds. The three Virginia com- 
panies, on the contrary, conducted with great spirit, and fought with such 
disregard of danger, that there were scarcely thirty men left alive from 
their whole number. This defeat did not injure the reputation of Wash- 
ington. His countrymen praised his conduct, and it was well understood 
that the disasters of the day originated in a neglect of his advice. 

Intelligence of the defeat of Braddock, and of the withdrawal of the 
regular forces from Virginia, arrived while the Assembly of that colony 
were still in session. It was at once resolved to raise a regiment of sixteen 
companies to protect the frontier settlements. The command of this was 
given to Washington, with authority to name the field officers. 

In executing the duties of his office, Washington visited the frontiers, 
and made the best disposition of the few soldiers he found in the various 
posts. On his way to Williamsburg, he was overtaken by an express, 
with information that the back settlements had been broken up by the 
French and Indians, who were burning their houses, devastating their 
crops, murdering and leading into captivity the men, women and children. 
The few troops stationed on the frontiers were unable to render them any 
assistance, but retired for their own safety to the stockade forts. Alarm 
and confusion prevailed on all sides. Before any sufficient force could be 
collected to repel the assailants, they had retreated beyond the Alleghany 
mountains, and were out of the reach of punishment. Irruptions of this 
kind were repeatedly made into the frontier settlements during the years 
1756, 1757, and 1758. The distresses of the inhabitants were extreme. 
In the forts they suffered from hunger, and were often besieged and mur- 
dered. In their farms and villages they lay down every night with the 
fear of a cruel death, or a more cruel bondage, continually before them. 

The people looked to Washington for the protection he was unable to 
give. The difiiculty of raising a large number of men, and the inability 
of a small number to protect the extensive frontiers of Virginia, were 



6 



WASHINGTON. 



continuaJ sources of anxiety and distress. The savages made no distinc- 
tions in their warltire. They slew the women and children, the aged 
and the helpless, as well as the men whom they found in arms. Wash- 
ington, in a letter written during this period to the governor, observed — 
"The supplicating tears of the women and moving petitions of the men, 
melt me with such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my 
own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, 
provided that would contribute to the people's ease." He was indefiiti- 
gable in representing to the governor the wretched condition of the inha- 
bitants, and the great defects of the existing mode of defence. He ad- 
vised the reduction of Fort Du Uuesne, the lurking-place and strong hold 
of these predatory bands, as the only means of effectually restoring secu 
rity to the frontier settlements. In case this measure was not adopted, he 
advised that twenty-two forts, extending in a line of three hundred and 
sixty miles, should be erected and garrisoned by two thousand men, in 
constant pay and service. In the autumn of 1758, to the great joy of 
Washington, an expedition was fitted out against Fort DuQuesne; but on 
reaching the post, they found that the garrison had deserted it and re- 
treated down the Ohio. A treaty of peace was soon after concluded 
with the Indian tribes. Fort Du Quesne received the name of Fort Pitt, 
was repaired and garrisoned with two hundred men from Washington'.? 
regiment. Henceforward it was a source of as much advantage to the 
English settlements, as it had before been of detriment. The remains 
of this fort presented the following appearance in the year 1831. 




The great object of his wishes having been thus happily accomplished, 
Washington resigned his conunission, and thus ended his career as a 
provincial officer. Soon after this resignation, he married Mrs. Martha 



WASHINGTON. 7 

Custi^, a young and beautiful lady, of great accomplishments, and an 
amiable character. Retiring to the estate at Mount Vernon, which he 
had acquired a few years before by the death of his elder brother, he 
devoted himself assiduously to the business of agriculture He became 
one of the greatest landholders in North America. His Mount Vernon 
estate alone consisted of nine thousand acres, and his domestic and 
farming establishments were composed of nearly a thousand persons. 

From the close of the frontier war to the commencement of the revolu- 
tion, Washington acted as judge of a county court, and as a member of the 
House of Burgesses of his native province. In this body he was never 
distinguished as a speaker, yet he secured the esteem and confidence of 
all who knew him, by the firmness and propriety of his conduct, and the 
uniform good sense of his counsels. While in this situation, he took an 
active part in opposition to the principle of the British parliament, to tax 
the American colonies. He was elected a representative to the first 
Congress, which met at Philadelphia, in 1774, and was the active mem- 
ber of all the committees on military affairs. When the commencement 
of hostilities made it necessary to appoint a commander-in-chief of the 
American forces, George Washington was unanimously elected to the 
office. On receiving from the President of Congress official notice of 
this appointment, he thus addressed him : " Mr. President, although I 
am truly sensible of the high honor done me in this appointment, yet 1 
feel great distress from a consciousness that my abilities and military 
experience may not be equal to the extensive and important trust. How- 
ever, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momen:ous duty, 
and exert every power I possess in their service, and for support of -the 
glorious cause. I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks, for this 
distinguished testimony of their approbation. 

" But, lest some unlucky event should happen, unfavorable to my 
reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, 
that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself 
equal to the command I am honored with. 

" As to pay. Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecunia- 
ry consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employ- 
ment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish 
to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses; 
those I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire." 

A special commission was made out for him, and at the same time an 
unanimous resolution was adopted by Congress, " that they would main- 
tain and assist him, and adhere to him with their lives and fortunes, for 
the maintenance and preservation of American liberty " 

He prepared to enter immediately on the duties of his high station. 
Having passed a few days in New-York, and making some arrangement 
with General Schuyler who commanded there, he proceeded to Cambridge, 
which was the headquarters of the American army. On his way thither, 
he received from individuals and public bodies, the most flattering atten- 
tion and the strongest promises of support and assistance. A committee 
of the Massachusetts Congress met him at Springfield, about one hun- 
dred miles from Boston, and conducted Urn to the array. 



8 WASHINGTON. 

' Immediately after his arrival, the Congress presented him an address, 
in which they expressed their approbation of his appointment, and the 
great respect and affection they entertained for him. His reply was well 
calculated to increase these sentiments. He returned the warmest ac- 
knowledgments of their kindness, and promised ever to retain it in 
grateful remembrance. In the course of this reply, he observed, "In 
exchanging the enjoyments of domestic life for the duties of my present 
honorable, but arduous situation, I only emulate the virtue and public 
spirit of the whole province of Massachusetts, which, with a firmness and 
patriotism without example, has sacrificed all the comforts of social and 
political life, in support of the rights of mankind, and the welfare of our 
common country. My highest ambition is to be the happy instrument 
of vindicating these rights, and to see this devoted province again restor- 
ed to peace, liberty and safety." 

On reaching the camp, the first movements of the commander-in-chief 
were directed to an examination of the strength and situation of his 
forces. They amounted to about fourteen thousand and five hundred 
men ; occupying several posts in an extent of about twelve miles. Some 
were stationed at Roxbury, some at Cambridge, and some on Winter and 
Prospect Hills in front of Bunker's Hill. A few companies were posted 
in the towns about Boston Bay, which were most exposed to attacks from 
British armed vessels. The troops were not sufficiently numerous to 
defend so large an extent of country, but it was difficult to make a more 
compact arrangement. The British army were posted in three divisions. 
The main body, under General Howe, was intrenching itself on Bunker's 
Hill, in Charlestown. Another division was stationed on Copp's Hill 
and the third was strongly entrenched and fortified on Roxbury Neck 
There were three floating batteries in Mystic river, and a small body 
of infantry and light horse stationed in Boston. 

The American army was very badly provided with the necessaries 
of war. Of military stores, they were almost entirely destitute. All 
the powder in New-England would not have furnished nine rounds 
to each soldier. In this condition, the army remained for a fortnight. 
There was no discipline among the troops, owing to their being enlisted 
only for short periods. The appointment of general officers by Congress 
gave great dissatisfiiction, and induced several of those who thought 
themselves injured, to quit the service. To remedy all these evils, to 
form an uniform mass of discordant materials, and subject men strivnig 
for independence to the rigid discipline of a camp, required patience, 
firmness, and a spirit of conciliation. 

General Gage had received a small reinforcement from New- York, so 
that the whole number of the British army now amounted to about eight 
thousand men. Their plans were principally directed to self-defence. With 
little interruption, both armies were employed in strengthening their re- 
spective fortifications. But few skirmishes took place, and those without 
much bloodshea. This state of things did not satisfy the mind of Wash- 
ington. He was eager for some active measures to destroy the British 
army in Boston, before it should receive additional reinforcements; and 
before the resources of the colonies should be entirely exhausted. 



WASHINGTON. 9 

The situation of the enemy was frequently reconnoitered, and every 
effort made to ascertain their strength. To carry their works by storm 
was a dangerous project, but it appeared to Washington practicable, and 
he determined to suggest it to his general officers. A council of war was 
called, and the measure proposed. It was decided that the attempt ought 
not to be at that time made. The original plan of continuing the block- 
ade appeared the most advisable, and Washington acquiesced in the 
decision of the council. 

The scarcity of fresh provisions in Boston, induced the enemy to send 
small parties to forage along the shores of the continent, under the pro- 
tection of their armed vessels. The defence of their property imposed 
such a heavy burden upon the seaboard towns, that the governors of 
several colonies applied to Washington to send detachments to their 
assistance. Repeated applications of this nature were very embarrass- 
ing, till Congress passed a resolution " that the army before Boston was 
designed only to oppose the enemy in that place, and ought not to be 
weakened by detachments for the security of other parts of the country." 

In the course of the autumn, gradual approaches were made towards 
the British posts. The army was also reinforced by the arrival of more 
than fourteen hundred riflemen, from Pennsylvania and Maryland. 
Through the season, the most active exertions of the commander-in- 
chief were directed to procuring arms and ammunition for his troops. A 
voyage was made to Africa, and every pound of gunpowder for sale in 
the British factories along the coast, was obtained by the exchange of 
New-England rum. A British ordnance ship, completely I ""den with 
military stores, was captured by a privateer under the command of Cap- 
tain Manly. On the fifth of September, a committee of Congress was 
appointed to visit the camp at Cambridge, and confer with the chief 
magistrates of the northern colonies, and the Council of Massachusetts, 
on the continuance and regulation of the continental army. The result 
of their conference was, that the new army should consist of twenty thou 
sand three hundred seventy-two men, to serve till the last day of Decem- 
ber, 1776. This short term of enlistment proved a very serious and 
almost a fatal evil. 

In the execution of this resolve, Washington called upon the soldiers 
and officers to make their election, whether to retire or remain with the 
army. Great difficulties occurred in effecting the re-enlistment. Many 
were unwilling to continue in the army on any terms, some required 
leave of absence to visit their families, and others were in doubt, and 
uncertain what course to pursue. In his general orders, Washington 
appealed directly to the pride and patriotism of both officers and men 
" The times," he observed in the orders of October twentieth, " and the 
importance of the great cause we are engaged in, allow no room for hesi- 
tation and delay. When life, liberty and property are at stake ; when our 
country is in danger of being a melancholy scene of bloodshed and deso- 
lation; when our towns are laid in ashes, innocent women and children 
driven from their peaceful habitations, exposed to the rigors of an incle- 
ment season, to depend, perhaps, on the hand of charity for support; when 
calamities like these are staring us in the face, and a brutal, savage enemy 



^^ WASHINGTON. 



roon k litt'lP hi ^ i'"^;^' ^"'^ ^''''' ""''^ destruction from foreign 
nT.' J-\ r '"'""' *''" character of a soldier to shrink from dan^r 
and condition for new terms. It is the general's intention to induS 
both officers and soldiers, who compose the new army, with furloughs fS 
a reasonable time; but this must be done in such a manner as not to 
injure the service, or weaken the army too much at once " 

old tioops, whose term of service had expired, were eager to return 
home- the new troops were slow in coming in. From this circums a ice 
the lines wer.e often in a defenceless state. "It is not " says Gene d 
Washington, m a communication to Congress, "in the pages of history 
to furnish a case like ours. To maintain a post with' fnul t S 

same'trn'To' dTshT^ """''' '""''''''I' -^^^out^ammunition, and at he 
same time to disband one army and recruit another, within that dis- 

luempted '' "'' ''' ^"'^' "^^"^"^^' ^^ ^'''' P-^^^V, than etr was 
About the middle of February, 1776, the waters about Boston had 
become sufficiently frozen to bear the 'troops. Washinaton was now 
desirous to execute his plan of attacking the enemy. A councU of Z 
was again called, and was again almost unanimous agains'TemeLre ' 
It was therefore reluctantly abandoned. The regular' force en.a'ed for' 
the year, now amounted to more than fourteen thousand men" >nd the 
militia to about six thousand. With these troops, Wash^n.ton d'etern^^ 
ed to take possession of the heights of Dorchester; a ^cuthiohZ 
thought must certainly bring on a general action. To favor^he exect 
tion of this plan, a heavy bombardment on the town and linTs oTZ 
enemy, was commenced, on the evening of the second of Marcl and con 
tinued on the two succeeding nights" On the night of the ' fourth a" 

flTrf ""^'^''^' ?'^"^^"^ «^ ^•^"^'•^1 Thomas, crossed he neck 
from Roxbury, and took possession of the heights. The ground wns 

durfnl ?r^"';^"d '' -^« -"h great labor that the party ^were able 
st;"?f tt ent; ^^ '''-'' ^^^^'^ ^^^^^ "-^'^ — ' ^^-n f-- the 

anr;m^SSep-=\^ 

and reboundin. over the IH and itf. n "'k "'' T'''''''^^^ '«'''"« 
our soldiers a^ tern^'^ '^:' ^:^-^i::i::^^^^ 

theTrnZTsIf r"f-,;"/'"f"-^'^" '"^ --- ' nothiiTg l^s ha" 

;e:crdi: b ^'^^'^f:j::,^rT'- ,T'^ 'r''^^^'- ^- 

on Dorchester shore, to at\a k ouT wors" TriuU: ni h' "r' '"'' 

the r joy, and express a warm desire for the aoDronrl, nf T^ ""'"''"* 
each ™a„ knows his place and is resolut" o etecX" ,f d /'" SS 
Howe determmed to attack the heights, and ordered three tLusal:^ m^n 



WASHINGTON. 11 

on this service. These vvere embarked, and fell down to the Castle with 
the intention of proceeding up the river to the attack, but were dispersea 
by a tremendous storm. Before they could be in readiness to proceed, the 
American works were in such a state of security as to discourage any 
attempt against them. 

The British now resolved to evacuate Boston as soon as possible. A 
paper signed by four of the selectmen was sent out with a flag of truce, 
containing a proposition, which purported to come from General Howe, 
that the town should be left uninjured if the troops were allowed to em- 
bark without molestation. This letter was directed to the commander-in- 
chief, but did not bear the signature of General Howe. Washington 
therefore declined taking any notice of it, but at the same time he " inti- 
mated his good wishes for the security of the town." On the seventeenth, 
the royal army commenced their embarkation on board of the transports. 
They were suffered to depart without annoyance. 

Immediately after their departure, Washington ordered a part of his 
army to New- York, to defend that town against the expected invasion 
cf the enemy. On entering Boston, the commander-in-chief was wel- 
comed on all sides with the warmest gratulations. Congress passed a 
vote of thanks, to express the public approbation of his conduct ; and 
ordered the striking of a medal, with suitable devices, to perpetuate the 
remembrance of the event. The town had received much less injury 
than was at first anticipated. During the siege, the Old South Church, 
a brick building near the centre of the town, had been converted into a 
riding school for Burgoyne's dragoons. The pulpit and pews were re- 
moved, and the floor covered with earth, to make it suitable for exercising 
their horses upon. A beautiful pew, ornamented with silk and carved 
work, was broken up, and its pieces taken for a fence to a hog-stye. The 
North Church was torn down, and consumed for fuel. 

After providing for the security of Boston, Washington marched with 
the main army to New- York, and made every preparation for the defence 
of this very important position. In these labors, the American army 
was incessantly occupied, until Lord and General Howe arrived at Sandy 
Hook with their naval and land forces. Before the commencement of 
hostilities, an attempt was made at negociation. General Howe sent a 
letter by a flag, directed to " George Washington, Esq." This the 
general refused to receive, as it did not recognise the public character 
with which he had been invested by Congress. His conduct on this 
occasion met with the approbation of this body, and they resolved, " that 
he had acted witli the dignity becoming his character." The British 
general was very anxious to obtain an interview with the commander-in- 
chief, but was unwilling to adopt his military address. He accordingly 
sent Colonel Patterson to the American headquarters, with a letter to 
" George Washiugton, &c. &bc. &lc." The general still declined receiv- 
ing it. He said it was true, the etceteras implied every thing ; tiiey also 
implied any thing : and a letter directed to a public character should have 
an address descriptive of that character. 

Colonel Patterson then said that General Howe would not urge his 
delicacy any further ; repeating his assertion that not the slightest disre- 



12 WASHINGTON. 

spect was intended in the form of the address. Some conversation ensuea 
in respect to the treatment of prisoners ; when the colonel observed that 
Lord and General Howe had been appointed commissioners by the king^ 
and were very desirous of arranging the difficulties that had so unfortu- 
nately arisen. General Washington observed that he was vested with no 
])ower of treating upon the subject. He had read the act of parliament, 
and found Lord and General Howe only authorized to grant pardons. 
The Americans, having committed no fault, desired no pardon ; they 
were only defending their rights. Colonel Patterson seemed confused, 
and said this would open a wide field for argument. After some few 
remarks, he was invited to a small collation, and introduced to the general 
officers. With many polite expressions at taking leave, he observed — 
" Has your Excellency no commands to my Lord or General Howe ?" 
" None, Sir," replied Washington, " but my particular compliments to 
both of them." 

On the arrival of General Howe at Staten Island, the American army 
did not exceed ten thousand men, but before the end of August they 
amounted to twenty-seven thousand. This force was distributed so judi- 
ciously, that the enemy were doubtful in what quarter to commence their 
operations. Every probable point of debarkation was guarded. From the 
arrival of the army, the Americans were in daily expectation of being at- 
tacked, and Washington was actively engaged in preparing their minds 
for action. In general orders he called upon the officers to be deliberate, 
and upon the soldiers to be firm, courageous and obedient. He directed 
that any soldier who deserted his ranks in time of battle should be im- 
mediately shot down. " The time," he observed, " is now at hand, which 
must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves ; 
whether they are to have any property they can call their own ; whether 
their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves 
consigned to a state of wretchedness, from which no human efforts will 
deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, 
on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting 
enemy leaves us only the choice of a brave resistance, or the most abject 
submission. We have to resolve to conquer or die. Our own, our coun- 
try's honor, call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion ; and if we 
now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let 
us then rely on the goodness of our cause, and on the aid of the Supreme 
Bei'ig. in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great 
and noble actions. The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and 
we shall have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the instruments 
of saving them from the tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore 
animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a 
freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any 
slavish mercenary on earth." 

On the twenty-seventh of August, the enemy attacked the American 
forces under the command of General Sullivan, on Long Island. The 
variety of ground and the number of different parties engaged on both 
sides, occasioned a succession of small engagements, pursuits, and 
daughters, which lasted for many hours. The Americans were defeated 



WASHINGTON. *^ 



in every quarter. They suffered exceedingly from the want of disciplme 
ITihl means of read/ transmission of intelligence. The troops retired 
wirh n their line, discouraged and fatigued, with a victorious army in 
Son and a powerful fleet about to enter East river, for the purpose of 
cutU^. off their retreat. Washington immediately determined to evacuate 
the sfand with all his forces. For this purpose, he crossed over to the 
sland on the night of the twenty-ninth, to conduct the retreat in person. 
It so happened, that, about two o'clock in the morning, a heavy fog 
enveloped the whole of Long Island. Under this cover, an army of nine 
thousand men, with their baggage, provision horses and ^^^I'^ary stores 
crossed a rive more than a mile wide, and landed at New-Yo k with no 
material loss. It was done in such silence, that the enemy who were so 
near tl^at they were heard at work with their pickaxes, knew nothing 
about 1L matter, till the clearing up of the fog. In conducting tins 
difficult movement, Washington was incessantly active. For forty-eight 
hours he did not close his eyes, and much of that time he was on horse- 
back. Notwithstanding the entreaties of his officers, he remained among 
the last upon the shore, refusing to embark till he saw his troops safely on 

^"^TL^^unfeToTaWe' issue of this engagement led to the most alarming 
consequences. Hitherto the soldiers had possessed such confidence in 
themselves and their officers, from being engaged m the cause of their 
country and liberty, that it outweighed all their apprehensions from the 
skill and discipline of the enemy. But on this occasion they found them- 
selves encompassed with difficulties and dangers from which the^r valor 
could not extricate them. They exaggerated the adroitness and military di^ 
cipline of the enemy, and in every movement were apprehensiv^e of some 
new surprise or skilful stratagem. " Our situation,' said Washington in 
hislette?to Congress, " is truly distressing. The clieck our detachment 
received on the twenty-seventh ultimo has dispirited too great a propor- 
tion of our troops, and filled their minds with apprehension and despair. 
The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave and 
manly opposition, in order to repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, 

and impatient to return." . . 

Washington had recourse to entreaty, to persuasion, and to promises, to 
arrest the progress of these evils. In his communication to Congress, he 
urged the necessity of making enlistments for a longer period. The de- 
fence of the public liberties was to be entrusted only to a permanent arm> , 
regularly disciplined. It required time to reduce men who had been sub- 
ject to no control, to the requisite military strictness In a few days after 
{his remonstrance. Congress resolved to raise eighty-eight battal ons to 
serve during the war. It was important therefore to wear away the pre- 
sent campaign with as little loss as possible, in order to take the field in 
the ensuing year with a well organized army. The evacuation of New- 
York was accordingly determined on, as soon as events might make it 
necessary for the preservation of the troops. 

While Washington was taking measures to preserve his troops and 
stores by evacuating the city, the British commander was P^^smng ^'^ 
plan of bringing about a general action. On the fourteenth of September. 



14 WASHINGTON. 

General Clinton landed with four thousand men, three miles above New 
York. This landing was effected under cover of five men of war. VVoiks 
had been thrown up at this place by the Americans, and tliey were capa- 
ble of defence; but the troops posted there, on ihe firing of the ^fnps, im- 
mediately abandoned them. Two brigades were detacll(^! from tlio main 
body to support them. Washington rode promptly to tlie scene f>f action, 
and to his great mortification found the whole relreai tig. While atterfipt- 
ing to rally them and with some success, they again broke and retreated 
in great confusion, on the appearance of a very small body of the enemy. 
At this shameful conduct, Washington entirely lost his self-command. He 
thought. of the ruin, which this miserable cowardice might bring upon the 
cause in which his whole soul was engaged. In despair he turned his 
horse's heSd towards the enemy, with the intention of seeking an honora- 
ble death ; and it was only by the friendly violence of his aids that he was 
compelled to retire, and his life saved for his country. 

The issue of this day hastened the evacuation of New- York. This was 
effected with the loss of very few men, though all the heavy artillery, the 
tents, and most of the military stores, were left behind. The British gene- 
ral immediately stationed a detachment in the city, and posted his main 
army in front of the American lines, in encampments across York Island. 
The flanks of the army from front to rear were protected by the shipping. 
The strongest post of the Americans was at Kingsbridge, and this post 
secured their communication with the country. A detachment was also 
posted on the heights of Haerlem, within a mile and a half of the enemy. 
This disposition of the two armies would naturally lead to frequent skir- 
mishes, and it was on this account very desirable, as it might accustom 
the undisciplined troops to military service. 

On the very day after the retreat from New- York, a body of the enemy 
appeared in the open plain between the two camps. The general detach- 
ed some troops, under the command of Colonel Knowlton and Major 
Leitch, to attack them. After leading their men into action, in the most 
soldierlike manner, both these officers were brought mortally wounded 
from the field. Their troops bravely continued the attack, and drove the 
enemy, though superior in numbers, from their position. The success of 
this skirmish had a great influence upon the army. In his general 
orders, Washington applauded the courage of the officers and men on this 
occasion, and contrasted it with the cowardly conduct of the troops the 
day before. He called upon the whole army to remember and imitate 
this brave example. He gave out on the ' next day " Leitch," for the 
parole. In filling the vacancy occasioned l)y the death of the colonel, he 
observed that " the officer succeeded the gallant and brave Colonel 
Knowlton, who would have been an honor to any country, and who had 
fallen gloriously fighting at his post." This was the method wliicli he 
adopted to animate the spirits of the army. General Howe continued to 
prosecute his scheme for cutting oft' Washington's communication with 
the eastern states, and compelling him to a general engagement. Failing 
however in this design, he adopted a new plan of operations, and directed 
his attention to the invasion of New-Jersey. Wasliington penetrated hia 
design, crossed the North river, and wrote to the governor of New-Jersey 



WASHINGTON. 15 

urorlnf!; him to put the militia of that state in a condition to dcfond it. 
About this time Fort Washington Avas taken h}"^ storm, and the garrison, 
consisting of more than two thousand men, surrendered themselves pri- 
soners of war. The loss on this occasion was very heavj'. Tents and 
military stores were taken by the enemy, which could not he replaced. 
The conquest of Fort W^ashington made the immediate evacuation of 
Fort Lee, on the opposite Jersey shore, a necessary measure. This was 
effected with little loss of men, hut with great loss of baggage and artillery. 

When General Ilo.ve passed into New-Jersey, Washington posted his 
•irmy along tlie Ilackcnsack ; and as the British forces advanced, he retreat- 
ed towards the Delaware. It often happened, that the front guard of one 
army entered a village, as the rear guard of the other was quitting it at 
the opposite end. Whenever it could be done with prudence, Washington 
took a stand and made a show of resistance ; sometimes advancing a small 
detachment as if to engage the enemy. At Brunswick, Lord and General 
Howe issued a proclamation as commissioners, commanding all persons in 
arms against the king to return peaceably to their homes, and oifering a 
full pardon to all who would subscribe a submission to the royal authority. 
This was the darkest period of the whole war. The American army were 
reduced in numbers, worn out with fatigue, disheartened by defeat, bare- 
foot without tents or clothing, and living before a numerous and disci- 
j)lined body of well armed and well provided troops. A general spirit of 
je-"pondency prevailed through New-Jersey, and most of the lamilies of 
fortune and inlluence were inclined to return to their allegiance to the 
'^i^g. A few, however, maintained their political integrity, and nearly a 
.:h")usand of the militia of the state bravely kept the tield. In the worst 
<*f times Congress remained unshaken, roused only to new and more vigo- 
rous exertions by the public danger. 

\ retreat beyond the Delaware became necessary, and this was eflected 
on the eighth of December. The boats on the Jersey shore were all se- 
ct' -cd, the bridges broken down, and parties stationed in such a manner 
a? to guard the different fording places over whicli it was possible for the 
er.emy to pass. General Howe, after an unsuccessful attempt to obtain 
b")ats to pass the river, posted his army in New-Jersey ; intending to wait 
till the ice should furnish him with a passage to Philadelphia. During 
this retreat, when affairs were taking their most gloomy aspect, Washing- 
ton observed to Col. Reed, passing his hand over his throat : " JMy neck 
does not feel as if it were made for a halter ; we must retire to Augusta 
county, in Virginia, and if overpowered, we must pass the Alleghany 
mountains." 

On the thirteenth of this month, a disaster of much im^wrtancc happen- 
ed in the capture of Major General Lee. While marching at the head 
of his division to join the main army, he very imprudently took up his 
lodgings for the night at a house three or four miles distant from his troops. 
In this situation he was made prisoner, and conveyed to New-York. 

Such was now the gloomy state of affairs, that the whole country took 
the alarm ; and strong apprel^ensions were entertained that the continental 
army would be entirely broken up. The term of service of many of the 
iroops had nearly expired, and no sufficient number of recruits arrived to 



16 WASHINGTON. 

supply their places. Under all these circumstances of doubt and distress, 
Washington was undismayed. lie remained firm, self-possessed, and 
serene, omitting nothing that could animate his own soldiers or embarrass 
the enemy. Laying before Congress the state of the army, he pointed 
out the impolicy of short enlistments, and urged the establishment of corps 
of cavalry, artillerists, and engineers. " We find," he observed, " that 
the enemy are daily gathering strength from the disaffected. This 
strength, like a snow-ball by rolling, will increase, unless some means 
can be devised to check, effectually, the progress of the enemy's arms. 
Militia may possibly do it for a little while ; but in a little while, also, the 
militia of these states, which have frequently been called upon, will not 
turn out at call ; or if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and 
sloth, as to amount to the same thing." 

He also hinted at the propriety of enlarging his own powers, so as to 
enable him, in urgent cases, to act without application to Congress, and 
thus execute important measures in the most effectual manner. " I have 
no lust," he added, " after power, but wish with as much fervency as any 
man upon the wide extended continent for an opportunity of turning the 
sword into the ploughshare. But my feelings as an officer, and a man^ 
have been such as to force me to say, that no person ever had a greatei 
choice of difficulties to contend with than I have." 

The American forces now amounted to about seven thousand men ; 
though during their retreat through the Jerseys they seldom amounted to 
half that number. The two armies were separated by the Delaware. In 
the security of conquest, the British had cantoned their troops in a very 
loose and uncovered manner, being in daily expectation to pass over into 
Pennsylvania by means of the ice, which is generally formed about that 
time. On receiving information of the number of the different canton- 
ments, Washington exclaimed, " Now is the time to clip their wings, 
when they are so spread." He formed the bold design of re-crossing the 
Delaware, and attacking the British posts on its eastern banks. 

In the evening of Christmas day, he made arrangements to pass over in 
three divisions ; two of these parties failed in their attempt from the quan- 
tity of ice by which their passage was obstructed. The main body, of 
about two thousand four hundred men, began to cross very early in the 
evening, during a severe storm of snow and rain. Having landed on the 
Jersey shore, they had still a march of nine miles before they reached the 
village of Trenton, where a party of about fifteen hundred Hessians and 
British light horse was stationed. This party was taken altogether by 
surprise. A smart firing ensued, but in a few minutes the enemy, finding 
themselves surrounded, threw down their arms and surrendered. Colonel 
Rahl, the commanding officer, was mortally wounded ; and of the other 
officers and soldiers nine hundred and forty-eight were taken prisoners. 
Of the American troops, two privates were killed, an officer and five or 
six privates wounded, and two frozen to death. On the same day. General 
Washington recrossed the Delaware with his prisoners, six pieces of ar- 
tillery, a thousand stand of arms, and some military stores. These being 
secured, and bis men having enjoyed two or three days of rest, he returned, 
and took possession of Trenton. On the next day Lord Cornwallis moved 



WASHINGTON. 17 

forward with a numerous force, and reached Trenton about four o'clock 
in the afternoon. General Washington drew up his army behind a creek 
which runs through the town, and in this position waited for the move- 
ments of the enemy. After having attempted to cross this creek, and 
finding the passes guarded, the British general halted his troops, and de- 
termined to defer the attack till the following morning. The situation of 
the American troops was critical. Washington called a council of his 
officers, and laid before them the different plans that they might adopt. 
A retreat across the Delaware was impracticable, on account of the ice. 
A defeat, if they risked an engagement, would be entire destruction. It 
was determined to quit their present position, and get in the rear of the 
British army at Princeton. 

On the next morning. Lord Cornwallis discovered that his enemy had 
disappeared. Soon after dark, Washington had given orders for the re- 
moval of the baggage to Burlington. Guards were stationed to perform 
the usual rounds, and to keep the watch fires burning throughout the 
night. At one o'clock, the army silently left the camp, and gained the 
rear of the enemy. They reached Princeton early in the morning, and 
would have completely surprised the British, if they had not been met by 
an advance of three regiments, which were on their way to join the Ui&in 
army. The centre of the American troops was severely charged by this 
party, and gave way in disorder. In his effort to rally them. General 
Mercer was mortally wounded. At this moment, Washington advanced 
at the head of his troops, and plunged into the hottest fire of the enemy. 
He was bravely supported by his men, and the British were obliged to 
retreat. One party of them fled to the colleges, but after a few discharges 
from the American fieldpieces, they came out and surrendered them- 
selves. More than an hundred of the British were left dead upon the 
battle ground, and three hundred were made prisoners. 

These victories led to the most importaiit consequences. Philadelphia 
was saved for the winter ; Jersey was recovered ; and the depressed spirits 
of the Americans were again revived. The character of the commander- 
in-chief rose still higher in public estimation ; and the soldiers began to 
entertain confidence in themselves and each other. After the campaign 
had been thus carried into the month of January, Washington retired into 
winter quarters at Morristown. His forces were small in comparison 
with those of the enemy, but public report had much exaggerated their 
number, and this deception was carefully continued. The remainder of 
the season passed over in a war of s!iirmishes, which generally terminated 
in favor of the Americans. Arranging the army in spring gave the 
commander-in-chief inconceivable trouble. A difliculty arose in as- 
sembling the troops from the different states in which they had been 
enlisted. The state regulations, in respect to pay and bounty, were 
different, and occasioned petty and vexatious jealousies among the troops. 
Each state, that conceived itself exposed to invasion, was desirous of 
retaining a part of its force for its own security. All these embarrass- 
ments, ho\^tver, were finally removed by the authority and great personal 
influence of Washington. 

The treatment of American prisoners, by the British officers, was a 
3 



18 WASHINGTON. 

source of threat vexation and difficulty. They were viewed as rebels, and 
confined in prisons witli common felons. General Washington had written 
to General Gage on this subject early in the war. In this letter he de- 
clared the intention to regulate his conduct towards prisoners in his own 
hands, by the treatment which those should receive in the power of the 
British general. To this communication an insolent reply was received, 
in which General Gage retorted the charge, and stated, as a mark of 
British clemency, that the cord was not applied to their prisoners. Gene- 
ral Washington rejoined in a manner worthy of his character, with a 
communication which, he observed, was " to close their correspondence, 
perhaps forever." In conclusion he remarked, " if your officers, our pri- 
soners, receive from me a treatment different from what I wished to show 
them, they and you will remember the occasion of it." Accordingly, all 
the British officers in his power were put into close jail, and the soldiers 
were confined in places of security. When Howe succeeded to the com- 
mand, the treatment of prisoners became more humane on both sides. 

The capture of General Lee opened new sources of irritation on this 
subject. As he had formerly been a British officer, General Howe 
pretended to consider him as a traitor, and at first refused to consider him 
as a subject of exchange. Congress directed the commander-in-chief to 
propose to exchange six fieldofficers for General Lee ; and in case of 
the rejection of this proposal, they resolved that these officers should be 
closely confined and receive in every respect the treatment that General 
Lee did. This plan of retaliation Washington considered unjust and 
impolitic, and he was reluctant to execute it. He remonstrated against it, 
and Congress eventually adopted the measures he recommended. 

In the approach of active operations, Congress determined to form an 
encampment on the western side of Philadcljdiia. Washington had made 
his arrangements for the campaign, with the expectation that the British 
would attempt to obtain possession of Philadelphia, or the Highlands on 
the Hudson. To prevent this, the northern troops were divided between 
Ticonderoga and Peekskill ; while those from the south were posted at 
Middlebrook, near the Raritan. This position was fortified by intrench- 
ments. The force of the Americans, collected at this strong encampment, 
was nominally between nine and ten thousand men ; but the effective 
force was about six thousand. A large portion of these consisted of raw 
recruits, and a considerable number of those enlisted in the southern 
states were foreigners. To encourage their desertion. General Howe 
offered a bounty to every soldier who would come over to his army ; and, 
to counteract this measure, Washington recommended Congress to grant 
full pardon to all Americans who would relinquish the British service. 

On the part of the British, the campaign opened early in June. Their 
forces advanced toward Philadelphia as far as Somerset County in New- 
Jersey, but they soon fell back to New-Brunswick. The whole of this 
month was wasted in alternate advance and retreat, without any deter- 
minate action. Apprehensive that Sir William Howe would ultimately 
move up the North river, and that his movements southwardly were 
merely feints, Washington detached a brigade to reinforce the northern 
division of his army. Further advices favored the idea that a junction of 



WASHINGTON. 19 

the royal armies near Albany was intended ; but still the whole affair was 
embarrassed, and made doubtful by the future movements. 

About the middle of August, certain accounts were received that the 
British had taken possession of the Chesapeake, and landed as near Phila- 
delphia as was practicable. As soon as this was known, Washington 
ordered the divisions of his army to unite in the neighborhood of Phila- 
delphia, and the militia of the surrounding states to take the field. He 
had previously written very pressing letters to the governors of the eastern 
states to strengthen the northern army opposed to Burgoyne ; and even 
detached some of the best of liis own forces on that important service. 
The effective American army did not exceed eleven thousand men. 
With tliese troops Washington marched through Philadelphia, that the 
sight of tliem might make an impression on the minds of the wavering 
and disaffected. 

The two armies approached each other on the third of September. As 
the British troops advanced, Sir William Howe endeavored to gain the 
right wing of the American army. General Washington continued to 
fall back, until he crossed the Brandywine river. He here posted his 
troops on the high ground, near Chadd's Ford. The light corps, under 
General Maxwell, was advanced in front, and placed on the hills south 
of the river, in order to assail the enemy if they should approach in that 
direction. Troops were also posted at a ford two miles below, and at 
several passes some miles above. The opinion of Congress, and the 
general wish of the country, made it necessary for Washington to risk 
a general action at this place. 

On the morning of the eleventh, the British army advanced in two 
columns to the attack. One column took the direct road to Chadd's 
Ford, and soon forced Maxwell's corps to cross the river, with very little 
loss on either side. General Knyphausen, the commander of this body, 
continued to parade on the heights, to reconnoitre the American army, 
and was apparently preparing to attempt the passage of the river. 

The other column, led by Lord Cornwallis, moved up on the west side 
of the Brandywine, making a circuit of about seventeen mile-!. On com- 
ing within view of the American troops, it instantly formed the line of 
battle, and at about half after four the action began. It was continued 
with great spirit for some time. The American right first fell into dis- 
order and gave way. They attempted to rally, but on being vigorously 
charged by the enemy, again broke. The flight now became common. 
General Washington, who had hastened towards the scene of action as 
soon as the firing commenced, only arrived in season to cover the retreat. 

When the right wing was engaged with Lord Cornwallis, the works at 
Chadd's Ford had been assaulted and carried by General Knyphausen. 
The whole army retreated that night to Chester, and on the next day, to 
Philadelphia. The Americans lost in this battle about nine hundred 
men ; three hundred of whom were slain, and the rest wounded and taken 
prisoners. This defeat occasioned no dejection either among tlie citi- 
zens, or in the army. Measures were immediately taken to procure 
reihtbrcements. Fifteen hundred men were marched from Peekskill, 
and /arge detachments of militia ordered into the field. It was determin- 



20 WASHINGTON. 

ed to risk a second engagement, for the security of Philadelphia. The 
enemy sought it, and Washington was willing to meet it. 

The commander-in-chief was empowered to impress all horses, wagons, 
and provisions, requisite for the use of the army. Perceiving that the 
enemy were moving into the Lancaster road, towards the city, Washing- 
ton took possession of ground on the left of the British, and about twenty- 
three miles from Philadelphia. On the next morning, the approach of 
the British was announced. He immediately put his troops in motion, 
and a skirmish had already commenced, when a violent rain storm oblig- 
ed them to separate. The retreat of the Americans was now unavoida- 
ble. Their gun locks and cartridge boxes were badly made, and tlje 
storm rendered most of the arms unfit for use. The exposure of the 
army was still greater, from their being entirely destitute of bayonets. 

Washington continued his retreat through the day, and most of the 
night, amidst a very cold storm, and through very bad roads. On a full 
discovery of the damage that had been done the ammunition and arms, 
the general ascended the Schuylkill, and crossed it at Warwick Furnace, 
that the army might refit their muskets and replenish their cartridge 
boxes. He still resolved to risk a general engagement. Recrossing the 
Schuylkill at Parker's Ferry, he encamped on the east side, posting de- 
tachments at the different fords at which the enemy might attempt to 
force a passage. Instead of urging an action, the British moved rapidly 
on their march towards Reading. To save the military stores which had 
been deposited in that place, Washington took a new position, and left 
the enemy in undisturbed possession of the road which led to the city. 
Sir William Howe availed himself of this advantage, and on the twenty- 
sixth of the month entered Philadelphia in triumph. 

Washington had taken seasonable measures to remove the public 
stores from the city, and to secure the most necessary articles for the use 
of the army. Though failing in his plan to save Philadelphia, he retain- 
ed the undiminished confidence of the people, and of Congress. Instead 
of now going into winter quarters, he approached and encamped near 
the enemy. 

Four regiments of grenadiers were posted in Philadelphia, and the 
other corps of the British army were cantoned at Germantown. The 
first object of Sir William Howe was to effect an open communication 
through the Delaware with the British fleet. General Washington was 
desirous to cut off this source of supplies, and erected forts on both banks 
of this river, near its junction with the Schuylkill, and about seven miles 
below Philadelphia. In the channel between the forts, large pieces of 
timber strongly framed together and pointed with iron, were sunk in two 
ranges, to obstruct the passage of the ships. These works were covered 
by floating batteries and armed ships. 

A considerable number of British troops having been despatched to 
destroy these works, it was thought a fiivorable time to attack their main 
body. The American forces now amounted to about eight thousand 
regular troops and three thousand militia. The plan formed was, to 
attack the enemy in front and rear at the same time ; and, on the fourth 
of October, the army was moved near the scene of action. The line of 



WASHINGTON. 21 

tlie British encampment crossed Germantown at right angles. At sun- 
rise, on the next morning, the attack was commenced.* The American 
troops were at first successful. They routed the enemy at two different 
quarters, and took a number of prisoners. But the morning was extreme- 
ly foggy, and the Americans were unable to take advantage of theii 
success. They could not perceive the situation of the enemy, nor under- 
stand their own situation. The field was hastily abandoned, and Wash- 
ington was obliged to resign a victory of which he had thought himself 
secure. The loss of the Americans, including the wounded, and four 
hundred prisoners, was about eleven hundred. A retreat was made 
twenty miles to Perkioming, with the loss of a single piece of artilfery. 

The plan of the battle of Germantown was judicious, and its com- 
mencement well conducted ; unavoidable circumstances prevented a 
fortunate issue. Congress voted their unanimous thanks "to General 
Washington, for his wise and well concerted attack, and to the officers 
and soldiers of the army, for the brave exertions on that occasion." 
From the time that the British obtained possession of the city, every aid 
was given to the forts constructed on the Delaware, to close the naviga- 
tion of that river. Troops were sent out, to prevent the farmer from 
carrying provisions to the market, and to cut off the foraging parties. 
The British soon afi;er broke up their encampment at Germantown, con- 
centrated all their forces at Philadelphia, and directed their attention 
principally to opening the navigation of the Delaware. This opera- 
tion employed them about six weeks, and after a great display of valor on 
both sides, was successfully accomplished. 

In this state of public affairs, a long and very singular letter was ad- 
dressed to Washington, by the Rev. Jacob Duche, late chaplain of Con- 
gress, and a clergyman of rank and character. The purport of this 
communication was, to persuade him that farther resistance to Great 
Britain was hopeless, and would only increase the calamities of their 
common country ; and to urge him to make the most favorable terms, 
and give up the contest. Such a letter, from a man of eminence, worth, 
and patriotism, corresponding also with the views of very many respecta- 
ble citizens, would have produced considerable effect on a mind less 
firm and resolute than that of Washington. He took no further notice 
of the letter, than merely to send a verbal message to the writer, "that 
if the contents of his letter had been known, it should have been return- 
ed unopened." 

While Sir William Howe was successful in all his enterprises in Penn- 
sylvania, the intelligence arrived that General Burgoyne and his whole 
army had surrendered prisoners of war. A portion of the northern army 
soon after joined Washington, and with this reinforcement he took a posi- 
tion at and near White Marsh. Sir William Howe marched out of Phila- 
delphia, with the expectation of bringing on a general engagement. On 
the next morning he took a position upon Chesnut Hill, about three miles 
in front of the Americans, and spent several days in reconnoitering their 
camp. He changed his ground, and made every appearance of an inten- 
tion to commence an attack. Several severe skirmishes took place, and a 
general action was hourly expected. But Sir William Howe was too well 



S2 



WASHINGTON. 



aware of the adv.antage of the enemy's position, and returned to Phila 
delphia without commg to an engagement. 

Three days after the retreat of the British army, Washington made pre- 
parations to retire into wnter quarters. He expressed in his general 
orders strong approbation o.' the conduct of his troops. Presenting tJiem 
with a favorable view of their country's situation, he exhorted them to 
bear with firmness the sufferings to which they must be exposed in the po- 
sition they were about to occupy. Valley Forge, about twenty-five miles 
back of Philadelphia, was fixed upon for winter quarters. This position 




was preferred to distant and more comfortable villages, as it was calculated 
to give the most extensive security to the country. The American u iny 
might have been tracked, by the blood of their bare feet, from Whue 
Marsh to their new position. They were badly clothed and badly pro- 
vided with food. Many were obliged to go almost naked, suffering at the 
same time from famine. In this situation the men behaved with great for- 
titude. They felled trees, and built log huts, which were covered with 
straw and earth, and afforded but very poor shelter from the severity of 
the season. 

Washington was now obliged to pursue a course, which he adopted with 
the greatest reluctance. The army suffered exceedingly from hunger. It 
was necessary that they should be allowed to satisfy their wants by force. 
In obedience to the commands of Congress, the general issued a procla- 
mation, calling on " the farmers, within seventy miles of headquarters, 
to thresh out one half of their grain by the first of February, and the resi- 
due by the first of March, under the penalty of having the whole seized 
as straw." 

While these transactions had been going on in the middle states, the 
northern campaign had terminated in the capture of the army of General 
Burgoyne. This event had very highly raised the reputation of General 
Gates, the commander in that department. The different issue of affairs 
under General Washington, afforded the ignorant and discontented an 



WASHINGTON. ^ 

occasion to murmur and complain. Several members of Congress, and a 
few general officers of the army, were engaged in a plan to supplant him 
m his office, and raise General Gates to the chief command. 

In the prosecution of this scheme, every effort was made to injure the 
character of General Washington. The conspiracy did not escape his 
notice ; but love of country was superior to every consideration. He re- 
pressed his indignation, to prevent an appearance of disunion and dissen- 
sion, that might ruin the cause in which he was engaged. His private 
letters at this period exhibit the state of his feelings, and the honorable 
motives which directed his conduct. 

In a communication to the President of Congress, Mr. Laurens, he ob- 
serves upon this subject: — " My enemies take an ungenerous advantage 
of me. They know the delicacy of my situation, and that motives of po- 
licy deprive me of the defence I might otherwise make against their in- 
sidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their insinuations, however 
injurious, without disclosing secrets it is of the utmost moment to conceal. 
But why should I expect to be exempt from censure, the unfailing lot of 
an elevated station. Merit and talents which I cannot pretend to rival, 
have ever been subject to it. My heart tells me it has been my unremitted 
aim to do the best which circumstances would permit ; yet I may have 
been very often mistaken in my judgment of the means, and may, in many 
instances, deserve the imputation of error. 

About this time it was rumored that Washington had determined to 
resign his command. On this occasion he wrote to a gentleman in New- 
England as follows : " I can assure you that no person ever heard me drop 
an expression that had a tendency to resignation. The same principles 
that led me to embark in the opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great 
Britain, operate with additional force at this day ; nor is it my desire to 
withdraw my services while they are considered of importance in the pre- 
sent contest : but to report a design of this kind, is among the acts which 
those who are endeavoring to effect a change, are practising to bring it 
to pass. I have said, and I still do say, that there is not an officer in the 
service of the United States, that would return to the sweets of domestic 
life with more heart-felt joy than I should. But I would have this decla- 
ration accompanied by these sentiments, that while the public are satis- 
fied with my endeavors, I mean not to shrink from the cause. But the 
moment her voice, not that of faction, calls upon me to resign, I shall do 
it with as much pleasure as ever the wearied traveller retired to rest." 

Washington now devoted himself to preparations for an active cam- 
paign in 1778. He labored to convince Congress of the necessity of en- 
listing a regular army, at least equal to that of the enemy. Congress 
deputed a committee from their body to reside in the camp, and act 
in concert with the commander-in-chief, in reforming the condition 
of the forces. This committee repaired to Valley Forge in January, 
1778. .Washington laid before them a minute view of the army, in which 
he minutely pointed out what he deemed necessary for the correction of 
abuses, and for the advancement of the service. He recommended, " as 
essentially necessary, that, in addition to present compensation, provision 
should be made by half pay, and a pensionary establishment, for the future 



24 WASHINGTON, 

support of the officers, so as to render their commissions valuable." He 
pointed out " the insufficiency of their pay (especially in its present state 
of depreciation) for their decent subsistence ; the sacrifices they had al- 
ready made, and the unreasonableness of expecting that they would con- 
tinue patiently to bear such an over proportion of the common calamities 
growing out of the necessary war, in which all were equally interested ; 
the many resignations that had already taken place, and the probability 
that more would follow, to the great injury of the service ; the impossi- 
bility of keeping up a strict discipline among officers whose commissions, 
in a pecuniary view, were so far from being worth holding, that they were 
the means of impoverishing them." These and other weighty considera- 
tions were accompanied by a declaration from Washington, " tliat he 
neither could nor would receive the smallest benefit from the proposed 
establishment, and that he had no other inducement in urging it, but a 
full conviction of its utility and propriety." 

Congress acted upon the proposed reforms with a general concurrence 
of sentiment, but before the army could receive the benefit of them, their 
distresses had reached the most alarming height. Of seventeen thousand 
men in the camp, but five thousand were able to discharge eflfective duty. 
Several times during the winter, they experienced little less than famine ; 
and a total dissolution of the army was often threatened in consequence. 
" It was on tliis occasion," observes L»r. Thacher, *' that a foreigner of 
distinction said to a friend of mine, that he despaired of our independence; 
for while walking with General Washington along the soldiers' huts, he 
heard from many voices echoing through the open crevices between the 
logs, ' 710 pay, no clothes, no provisions, vo rum,' and when a miserable 
being was seen flitting from one hut to another, his nakedness was only 
covered by a dirty blanket. It will be diflicult to form a just conception 
of the emotions of grief and sorrow, which must have harrowed up the 
soul of our illustrious patrk>t and philanthropist. In this darkening hour 
of advcrsitv, any man who possesses less firnuiess than Washington, would 
despair of our independence." 

It was at this period that the British government were disposed to make 
conciliatory proposals. The first certain intelligence of these oft'ers was 
received by Washington in a letter from the British governor of New- 
York, enclosing the proposals, and recommending " that they should be 
circulated by General Washington among the officers and privates of his 
army." These proposals were innnediately forwarded to Congress, and 
on the day after their rejection an order was adopted, in which it was 
urged upon the diflerent states to pardon, under certain limitations, such 
of their misguided citizens as had levied war against the United States. 
This resolution was transmitted to the British Governor, with a request, 
by way of retort, that he would circulate it among the Americans in the 
British army. The proposals of the British government had been made 
in consequence of a treaty which had just been concluded between France 
and the United States. 

Sir William Howe had resigned the command of the British army, and 
was succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton. This officer received immediate 
orders to evacuate Philadelphia. Washington was uncertain what course 



WASHINGTON. 25 

he would probably pursue. Deciding on a march to New- York, the 
British general crossed the Delaware about the middle of June. When 
this was known, a council of war was immediately called in the Ameri- 
can camp. There was a great difference of opinions. Since the recent 
alliance with France, independence was considered secure, unless the 
army should be defeated. Under such circumstances a general engage- 
ment was not to be hazarded, without a fair prospect of success. This 
was the opinion of a majority of the general officers. Washington, how- 
ever, was very desirous to risk an action. 

When Sir Henry Clinton had advanced to Allentown, instead of pur- 
suing the direct course to Staten Island, he drew towards the sea coast. 
On learning that he was marching in this direction, towards Monmouth 
court-house, Washington sent Brigadier Wayne with a thousand men to 
reinforce his advanced troops. The command of this body was offered 
to General Lee, who in the exchange of prisoners had been restored to 
the army. This officer was opposed to any engagement with the enemy 
at that time, and declined the service. It was accordingly given to the 
Marquis de La Fayette. 

The whole army followed at a proper distance for supporting the ad- 
vanced corps, and reached Cranberry the next morning. Washington 
increased his advanced corps with two brigades, and sent General Lee, 
who was now desirous of assuming the command, to take charge of the 
whole, and followed with the main army to give it support. On the next 
mo'-ning, orders were sent to Lee to move forward and attack the enemy, 
unless there should be very strong objections to the measure. When 
Wasiiington had marched about five miles to support the advance corps, 
he found it retreating, by Lee's orders, and without having offered any 
opposition. He immediately rode up to Lee and requested an explana- 
tion ; the reply was unsuitable and insolent. Orders w'ere then given to 
form on a piece of ground which seemed to offer advantages as a position 
to check the enemy. Lee was asked if he would command on that 
ground ; he consented, and replied " your orders shall be obeyed, and I 
will not be the first to leave the field." 

Washington returned to the main army, which was soon formed for 
action. After several unsuccessful movements of the British troops, they 
retired and took the ground that had been before occupied by General 
Lee. Washington determined to attack tljem, and ordered two detach- 
ments to move round, upon their right and left sides. They did not ar- 
rive at their ground in season to commence the attack that night. They 
remained in that position till morning, General Washington reposing on 
his cloak under a tree in the midst of his troops. Before dawn, the British 
moved away in great silence. Nothing was known of their march till the 
next day. They left behind four officers, and forty privates, so severely 
wounded that it was not safe to remove them. Including prisoners, the 
whole loss of the British army was about three hundred and fifty. They 
pursued their march to Sandy Hook without farther interruption and 
without any loss of baggage. The Americans lost about two hundred 
and fifty men. Declining pursuit of the royal troops, they retired to the 
borders of the North river. 
4 



^ WASHINGTON. 



Short y after the action, Congress resolved on a vote of thanks to Gene- 
. ral Wasliington, for the activity with which lie marched from the camp at 
Valley Forge in pursuit of the enemy ; for his distinguished exertions in 
forming the line of battle ; and for his great good conduct in leading on 
the at ack and gaming the important victory of Monmouth. General 
l.ee tolfowed up his passionate language on the day of the battle, by writ- 
ing two vio ent letters to Washington, which occasioned his being arrested 
and brought to trial. After a protracted hearing before a couit-martial, 
01 which Lord Stirling was president, Lee was found guilty, and sentenced 
to be suspended from any command in the armies of the United States for 
tne term of one year. 

♦K^w^f^n/-^'' ^^"i^ °^ Monmouth, the American army took post at 
the White Plains and remained there and in the vicinity till autumn was 
far advanced, and then retired to Middlebrook, in New Jersey. During 
this period, nothing occurred of greater importance than an occasional 
skirmish. The French fleet arrived too late to attack the British in the 
Delaware It was determined, therefore, that a joint expedition, with the 
sea and land forces, should be made agaitist the British posts in Rhode 
Island. Genera ISulhvan was appointed to the conduct of the American 
troops ; Count D Estaing commanded the French fleet. The preparations 
for commencing the attack had been nearly completed, when a British 
fleet appeared in sight. The French commander immediately put out to 
sea to come to an engagement. A violent storm arose, and injured both 
fleets to such an extent, that it was necessary for the one to sail for 
Boston, and the other to New- York, to refit. 

General Sullivan had commenced the siege, in the expectation of beincr 
shortly seconded by the French fleet. The determination of D'Estain^ 
to return to Boston excited general alarm. It left the harbors of Rhode 
Island open for reinforcenients to the British, from their headquarters in 
New-lork. The very safety of the American armv was endangered by 
It. Every effort was made to induce the French commander tS chancre 
his intentions but without effect. This aff^air produced a great deal of 
discontent and irritation, among the American officers, and was likely to 
lead to very serious difficulties. With his usual prudence and good 
judgment General Washington exerted his influence to quiet the 
wounded feelings of both parties. He was powerfully assisted in this 
attempt, by the Marquis de La Fayette, who was very much beloved by 
the Americans as well as the French, and gladly rendered his services to 
bring about a reconciliation. Washington wrote on the subject to the 
several general officers of his army, and took the first opportunity of 
recommencmg his correspondence with Count D'Estain/ His letter 
took no notice of the angry dispute that had occurred, and good humor 
and cordial good-will were speedily restored. 

With the battle of Monmouth, active operations closed in the middle 
states. On the approach of winter, the American army went into 

ZTZl "V '"./'"'^ T'^"^^ ^^''^" Highlands. Being better clothed 
and better fed than m the preceding winter, their situation was creatlv 
ameliorated. At the close of 1778, except the possession of Nevv-York 
by the British, the local situation of the hostile armies did not much 



WASHINGTON. 27 

differ from that of the commencement of the campaign of 1776. " It is 
not a little pleasing," observed Washington in a letter to a friend, " nor 
less wonderful to contemplate, that after two years' manoeuvring, and 
undergoing the strangest vicissitudes, both armies are brought back to 
the very point they set out from, and the offending party in the beginning 
is now reduced to the use of the pickaxe and the spade for defence. The 
hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be 
worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not 
gratitude to acknowledge his obligations." 

In the last months of the year 1778, when the active operations of the 
campaign were over. Congress decided on a magnificent plan for the 
conquest of Canada. This plan was to be carried into effect by the joint 
operations of distinct detachments of Americans, acting in different 
points, and co-operating with a French fleet and army on the river St. 
Lawrence. The scheme was not communicated to Washington, till it 
had been adopted by Congress. He was then consulted, and requested 
to write to Dr. Franklin, then minister at Paris, to interest him in 
securing the proposed co-operation of France. Doubtful of the success 
of the operation, even with the assistance of the French, Washington 
was urgent to obtain its rejection. Congress persisted in the measure, 
and a committee of their body was chosen to confer with the general on 
this business, and on the state of the army. His objections were then 
found to be insurmountable, and the expedition was laid aside. 

The alliance with France had seemed to m.any to secure our 
independence. It was supposed that Great Britain would despair of final 
success, and relinquish farther prosecution of the war. Washington was 
very busy in opposing the progress of this dangerous delusion. In his 
correspondence with members of Congress, and influential men throughout 
the state, he represented the fallacy of this opinion, and the impolicy of 
indulging it. He was anxious that early and vigorous measures should 
be taken for the next campaign. Yet it was not till the twenty-third of 
lanuary, 1779, that Congress passed resolutions for re-enlisting the army; 
and not till the ninth of March, that the states were called upon to furnish 
their proportion of the general forces. This state of affairs greatly alarmed 
Washington, and his apprehensions at the time may be gathered from the 
following extract of a letter to one of his confidential friends. 

" To me it appears no unjust simile, to compare the affairs of this great 
continent to the mechanism of a clock, each state representing some one 
or other of the small parts of it, which they are endeavoring to put in fine 
order, without considering how useless and unavailing their labor is, 
unless the great wheel, or spring, which is to set the whole in motion, is 
also well attended to and kept in good order. I allude to no particular 
state, nor do I mean to cast reflections upon any one of them, nor ought 
I, as it may be said, to do so upon their representatives; but as it is a fact 
too notorious to be concealed, that Congress is rent by party ; that much 
business of a trifling nature and personal concernment withdraws their 
attention from matters of great national moment, at this critical period ; 
when it is also known that idleness and dissipation take place of close 
attention and application ; no man who wishes well to the liberties of hia 



28 WASHINGTON. 

country, and desires to see its rights established, can avoid crying out — 
Where are our men of abilities ? Why do they not come forth to save 
their country ? Let this voice, my dear sir, call upon you, Jefferson, and 
others. Do not, from a mistaken opinion that we are to sit down under 
our own vine and our own figtree, let our hitherto noble struggle end in 
ignominy. Believe me, when I tell you, there is danger of it. I have 
pretty good reasons for thinking that the administration, a little while ago, 
had resolved to give the matter up, and negotiate a peace with us upon 
almost any terms ; but I shall be much mistaken, if they do not now, from 
the present state of our currency, dissensions, and other circumstances, 
push matters to the utmost extremity. Nothing, I am sure, will prevent 
it, but the interruption of Spain, and their disappointed hope from 
Prussia." 

The depreciation of the paper currency had so reduced the pay 
of the American officers, as to render it inadequate to their support. 
This led to serious troubles and discontents. Early in May, the Jersey 
brigade was ordered to march by regiments to join the western army. 
In answer to this order, a letter was received from General Maxwell, 
stating that the officers of the first regiment had addressed a remonstrance 
to the legislature of the state, in which they professed a determination to 
resign their commissions, unless that body immediately attended to their 
pay and support. General Washington knew the sufferings to which the 
army had been exposed, and the virtue and firmness with which they had 
supported them. He knevv the truth and justice of the complaints now 
made by the Jersey regiment ; but saw and felt the evils that would result 
from the measures they had adopted. Relying on their patriotism and 
personal attachment to himself, he immediately wrote to General Maxwell 
a letter to be communicated to the officers. 

In this address, he adopted the language of a friend as well as of an of- 
ficer. He acknowledged the inconvenience and distress to which the 
army were exposed ; and expressed the hope that they had done him the 
justice to believe, that he had been incessant in endeavors to procure them 
relief The limited resources of the government were mentioned, and 
their embarrassment in procuring money. He then alluded to the pro- 
gress of the cause, the probability of soon attaining the object of their 
struggles, and the meanness of a shameful desertion, and forgetfulness of 
what was due to their country. " Did I suppose it possible," he observed, 
" this could be the case, even in a single regiment of the army, I should be 
mortified and chagrined beyond expression. I should feel it as a wound 
given to my own honor, which I consider as embarked with that of the 
army at large. But this I believe to be impossible. Any corps that was 
about to set an example of the kind, would weigh well the consequences ; 
and no officer of common discernment and sensibility would hazard them. 
If they should stand alone in it, independent of other consequences, what 
would be their feelings, on reflecting that they had held themselves out to 
the world in a point of light inferior to the rest of the army. Or if their 
example should be followed, and become general, how could they console 
themselves for having been the foremost in bringing ruin and disgrace 
upon theit country. They would remember, that the army would share a 



WASHINGTON. 29 

double portion of the general infamy and distress, and that the character 
of an American officer would become as despicable as it is now glorious." 

The officers did not expressly recede from their claims, but they were 
prevailed upon by the representations of the letter to continue in service. 
In an address to General Washington, they expressed regret that any act 
of theirs should have given him pain, and proceeded to justify the measures 
they had taken. They stated that their repeated memorials to the legislature 
had been neglected, and that they had lost all confidence in that body. 
" Few of us," they said, " have private fortunes ; many have families who 
already are suffering every thing that can be received from an ungrateful 
country. Are we, then, to suffer all the inconveniences, fatigues, and 
dangers of a military life, while our wives and our children are perishing 
for want of common necessaries at home ; and that without the most 
distant prospect of reward, for our pay is now only nominal ? We are 
sensible that your Excellency cannot wish or desire this from us. 

" We beg leave to assure your Excellency, that we have the highest 
sense of your ability and virtues ; that executing your orders has ever 
given us pleasure ; that we love the service, and we love our country ; 
but when that country is so lost to virtue and to justice as to forget to 
support its servants, it then becomes their duty to retire from its service." 

Washington, with his usual prudence, resolved to take no further notice 
of this address, than to notify the officers through General Maxwell, that, 
as long as they continued to do their duty, he should only regret the step 
they had taken, and hope that they themselves would perceive its impro- 
priety. The occasion was a favorable one for the commander-in-chief, to 
urge upon Congress the necessity of making suitable provision in behalf 
of his officers. " The distresses in some corps," he observed, " are so 
great, either where they were not until lately attached to any particular 
state, or where the state has been less provident, that officers have solicited 
even to be supplied with the clothing destined for the common soldiers, 
coarse and unsuitable as it was. I had not })ower to comply with the 
request. The patience of men, animated by a sense of duty and honor, 
will support them to a certain point, beyond which it will not go. I doubt 
not Congress will be sensible of the danger of an extreme in this respect, 
and will pardon my anxiety to obviate it." The legislature of New-Jersey 
were alarmed, and at length induced to notice the situation of their 
soldiers ; the remonstrance was withdrawn, and the officers continued to 
perform their duty as usual. 

The American army, in these years, was destitute, not only of food, 
but of clothing. The seasons of 1779 and 1780, were unfruitful ; the 
labors of the farmers had been interrupted by the calls of war ; paper 
money was no equivalent, in its present value, for the produce of tlie soil ; 
and, consequently, no provisions could be obtained but by measures 
of compulsion. The soldiers were demanding food, the inhabitants de- 
manded protection, and, distracted by the wrongs of the one, and the 
wants of the other, Washington was m a state of the deepest embarrass- 
ment and anxiety. At length, even force began to fail ; the neighboring 
country was drained of all its produce, and absolute famine appeared to 
threaten the army. In this situation, the conduct of the commander-in- 



30 WASHINGTON. 

chief was of the most prudent, wise, and conciliating character ; and i* 
was indeed a crisis which called for all his address, popularity, and firm- 
ness, to carry him through it. He succeeded in keeping the army to- 
gether, and in retaining, not only their approbation, but that of his 
fellow citizens. 

The effective force of Sir Henry Clinton, in 1779, strongly fortified 
in New- York and Rhode Island, amounted to .about sixteen thousand 
five hundred men ; that of the Americans did not exceed thirteen thou- 
sand. The British were supported by a powerful fleet, which enabled 
them to move with expedition and facility, and when on the Hudson, to 
concentrate their forces on either side of it. West Point was the chief 
post of the Americans, on this river ; and the preservation of this place 
and its dependencies, was an object of primary importance. For this 
purpose, Washington concentrated his forces here, and all the efforts of 
the British to allure him from this position by attacking and burning the 
towns on the coast of Connecticut, proved unavailing. The American 
army limited its operations to securing the passes of the North river, and 
protecting the country as far as was consistent with this important object. 
While the British devastations were going on, Washington planned an 
expedition against Stony Point, a bold hill, projecting into the Hudson, 
on the top of which a fort had been erected and garrisoned by six hun- 
dred men. The enterprise was entrusted to General Wayne, and was 
completely successful. It was soon followed by the surprise of the British 
garrison at Paules Hook, concluded on the eighteenth of August, by 
Major Henry Lee. With three hundred soldiers, he entered the fort 
about three o'clock in the morning, and, with very inconsiderable loss, 
carried away one hundred and fifty-nine prisoners. 

It was thought desirable to avoid all hazardous movements, fi-om the 
expected arrival of a French fleet, with which the army might success- 
fully co-operate. This fleet, under Count D'Estaing, reached the vicinity 
of Georgia, with a body of troops, and, in conjunction with the southern 
array, under General Lincoln, made an attack on the British post at 
Savannah. The united forces were led to the lines of the enemy Avith 
great valor and firmness, but after standing a very severe fire for about 
an hour, they were repulsed with loss. 

The campaign terminated in the northern states without any decisive 
efforts on either side. The British attempts upon the posts in the High- 
lands had been defeated. The Indians had been reduced to peace by 
an expedition sent against them, under the command of General Sulli- 
van. Wmter quarters for the American army were chosen at Morris- 
town. On their march to this place, and after their arrival, they suffered 
exceedingly. The snow was two feet deep, and the soldiers were desti- 
tute, both of tents and blankets, some of them barefooted and almost 
naked. At night, their only defence against tlie weather, was in piles 
of brushwood. After reaching the place that had been chosen for winter 
quarters, they found it very diflicult to pitch their tents in the frozen 
ground. They built up large fires, but could hardly keep from fi-eezing. 
Besides the sufferings from cold, they were without necessary food. For 
seven or eight days together, tliey had no other provision than miserable 
fresh beef, without bread, salt, or vegetables. 



WASHINGTON. 31 

The weather in January, 1780, was remarkably cold and severe. On 
the third of the month, there was a most violent snow storm. Several 
of the marquees were blown down over the officers' heads, and some of 
the soldiers were actually buried under the snow in their tents. The 
officers of the army had a sufficient supply of straw, over which they 
could spread their blankets, and, with their clothes and large fires, keep 
themselves from extreme suffering. But the common soldiers on duty, 
during all the violence of the storm, and at night, with but a single blan- 
ket, were exposed to great distress. They were so enfeebled by cold and 
hunger, as to be unable to labor in the erection of their log huts. The 
sufferings of the soldiers, from the unusual seve'-ity of the winter, and 
the privation of food, were extremely severe; but though desertions were 
frequent, not a single mutiny was excited. Notwithstanding the situa- 
tion of his army, Washington was active in seeking opportunities for a 
favorable attack ; and planned an expedition against the British works 
on Staten Island. A detachment of twenty-five hundred men, under 
the command of Lord Stirling, was despatched on this service. 

The party passed over from Elizabethtown, at night, on the ice. The 
British troops, however, had received intelligence of their design, and 
withdrawn into their fortifications. All the benefit of the expedition con- 
sisted in procuring a quantity of blankets and military stores, with a few 
casks of wine and spirits. The snow was three or four feet deep, and 
tlie troops remained on the island twenty-four hours without covering ; 
about five hundred of them were slightly frozen, and six were killed ; 
the retreat was effected with no other loss. 

Soon after this event, Washington received intelligence of the loss 
of Charleston, and the surrender of that detachment of the southern 
army, under General Lincoln. When the news of this disaster reached 
the northern states, the American army was in the greatest distress. 
The officers had been for some time dissatisfied with their situation ; 
they had been exposed to great distress, and had made great sacrifices, 
for small wages, paid with no punctuality. The paper money had dimi- 
nished so much in value, that it was difficult to procure supplies with it, 
even at the reduced rates. Forty dollars in these bills were worth less 
than one dollar in silver. A number of officers were compelled, by 
necessity, to give up their commissions. General Washington was un- 
wearied in his efforts to procure from Congress a more generous provi- 
sion for them, and at length succeeded. 

The disaffection of the troops at length broke out into actual mutiny. 
Two of the Connecticut regiments paraded under arms, announcing their 
intention of returning home, or obtaining a subsistence by their arms. 
By the prudent and spirited conduct of their officers, however, the 
ringleaders were secured, and the regiments brought back to their (Uity. 

Soon aft;er the surrender of the southern army, the commanding officer 
of the enemy, in New- York, thought to take advantage of the discontent 
and distress prevailing among the northern troops. General Knyphausen 
crossed over from Staten Island with about five thousand men. Orders 
were immediately given in the American camps, to be in readiness to 
march at a moment's notice. The enemy advanced to Springfield, and 



32 WASHINGTON 

set fire to the village ; burning the church, and twenty or thirty dwelling 
houses. They then made a rapid retreat to Staten Island. The object 
of this expedition was supposed to have been the destruction of the stores 
at Morristown. The first months in the year were spent in these desul- 
tory operations. No disposition to give up the contest, was produced in 
the north, by the disasters in the south ; but the weakness of the govern- 
ment, and the depreciation of the paper currency, deprived Washington 
of all power to act on the offensive. 

When aff"airs were in this condition, the JMarquis de La Fayette arrived 
from France, with the assurance that the French army and fleet might 
soon be expected upon our coast. This roused the Americans from their 
lethargy, and Washington was very active in his extensive correspond- 
ence through the states, to stimulate the public mind to the exertions the 
crisis demanded. The resolutions of Congress were slowly executed, 
and from the want of their efficient assistance, the operations of Wash- 
ington were very nmch embarrassed. Some relief was obtained from 
private sources, and the citizens of Philadelphia formed an association 
to procure a supply of necessaries for the suffering soldiers. In a few 
days, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars was subscribed, for this 
purpose, and converted into a bank, from which great advantages were 
derived. The ladies of that city, also made large donations for the im- 
mediate relief of the soldiers ; but large as all these supplies w^re, they 
fell far short of the wants of the army. 

On the tenth of July, the expected allies arrived on the coast of Rhode 
Island. Their fleet consisted of seven sail of the line, five frigates, and 
five smaller vessels ; their army amounted to six thousand men. So 
tardy had been the arrangements for raising the American army, that 
their force at this time did not amount to one thousand men. Trusting, 
however, that the promised support would be forwarded with all possible 
despatch, Washington sent proposals to the French commander for com- 
mencing the siege of New- York. " Pressed on all sides," he observed 
in a letter to Congress, " by a choice of difficulties, in a moment which 
required decision, I have adopted that line of conduct, which comported 
with the dignity and faith of Congress, the reputation of these states, and 
the honor of our arms. I have sent on definitive proposals of co-opera- 
tion to the French general and admiral. Neither the period of the 
season, nor a regard to decency would permit delay. The die is cast ; 
and it remains with the states, either to fulfil their engagements, preserve 
their credit, and support their independence, or to involve us in disgrace 
and defeat. * * * If we fail for want of proper exertions in any of the 
governments, I trust the responsibility will fall where it ought, and that 
I shall stand justified to Congress, my country, and the world." 

The fifih of August was fixed upon, as the day when the united armies 
were to commence operations. Sir Henry Clinton, who had returned 
the preceding month, with his victorious troops from Charleston, had 
embarked about eight thousand men, with the apparent intention of 
attacking the French force at Rhode Island. Washington put his army 
in motion, and crossed the Hudson, to besiege New- York during his 
absence. The enemy were alarmed at the danger of this city, and 



WASHINGTON 33 

returned to defend it. The American army recrossed the Hudson to 
the Jersey shore. This passage was made in boats and floats, and occu- 
pied three days and nights. The designs on New- York were only sus- 
pended, not entirely abandoned ; and Washington had a personal inter- 
view on this subject, with the French commander, at Hartford. But the 
arrival of Admiral Rodney, with eleven ships of the line, upon the 
American coast, disarranged the plans of the allies, and no expedition 
of the kind could be undertaken during the present campaign. 

At this time, Washington wrote thus in a letter to a friend : " We are 
now drawing to a close an inactive campaign, the beginning of which 
appeared pregnant with events of a very favorable complexion. I hoped, 
but I hoped in vain, that a prospect was opening, which would enable me 
to fix a period to my military pursuits, and restore me to domestic life. 
The favorable disposition of Spain ; the promised succor from France ; 
the combined force in the West Indies ; the declaration of Russia, 
(acceded to by other powers of Europe, humiliating the naval pride 
and power of Great Britain ;) the superiority of France and Spain by 
sea, in Europe ; the Irish claims, and English disturbances, formed 
in the aggregate, an opinion in my breast, (which is not very suscep- 
tible of peaceful dreams,) that the hour of deliverance was not far 
distant : for that, however unwilling Great Britain might be to yield 
the point, it would not be in her power to continue the contest. But 
alas ! these prospects, flattering as they were, have proved delusory ; 
and I see nothing before us but accumulating distress. We have been 
half our time without provisions, and are likely to continue so. We have 
no magazines, nor money to form them. We have lived upon expedients 
until we can live no longer. In a word, the history of the war is a 
history of false hopes and temporary devices, instead of system and 
economy. It is in vain, however, to look back, nor is it our business to 
do so. Our case is not desperate, if virtue exists in the people, and there 
is wisdom among our rulers. But, to suppose that this great revolution 
can be accomplished by a temporary army ; that this army will be sub- 
sisted by state supplies; and that taxation alone is adequate to our wants 
is, in my opinion, absurd." 

At a period when the resources of the country were almost exhausted, 
and countless troubles and embarrassments surrounded Washington, 
treason entered the camp of the Americans, and had nearly strangled 
their infant liberties. Benedict Arnold had been regarded from the 
commencement of the American war, as a brave and patriotic officer. 
He had fought in several battles, with great valor and gallantry, and ac- 
quired the entire confidence of his countrymen. His services had been 
rewarded by promotion, to the rank of major general. At his own re- 
quest and solicitation, he was entrusted with the command of West 
Point. Partly from motives of avarice, and partly from feelings of re- 
venge, for some public censures, he had received from the government, 
he determined to deliver this post into the hands of the enemy. He 
entered into a secret correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, and actual- 
ly agreed to put him in possession of the garrison. The British general 
readily consented to the treachery, and selected Major John Andre, his 
5 



34 WASHINGTON. 

adjutant general and aid-de-camp, to have a personal interview with 
Arnold, and arrange the plan for the surrender of the post. 

A British sloop of war, called the Vulture, sailed up the North river, 
and anchored about twelve miles below West Point. On board of this 
vessel was Major Andre, under the assumed name of John Anderson. 
The parties could now communicate with each other, without exciting 
suspicions of any treasonable designs. But a personal interview becarne 
at length necessary, and the place chosen for this purpose was the beach, 
near the house of Mr. Joshua Smith, who had long been suspected of 
favoring the British cause. Arnold now sent a boat to bring Andre on 
shore. This was unexpected to the British officer, but he was unwilling 
that the enterprise should fail, through any fault upon his part. Putting 
on a grey surtout, to hide his uniform, he accompanied the messenger 
of Arnold to the shore. After conversing some time at the water's edge, 
they went to the house of Smith for greater security. Andre remained 
concealed here till the following night, when he became anxious to return 
on board the Vulture, and went alone to the beach, where he expected 
to find a boat to convey him to this vessel. During his visit to the shore, 
however, the Vulture had been driven from her station, and had removed 
some miles farther down the river. When Andre proposed to the boat- 
men to carry him back to the vessel, they told him that it was too far, and 
refused to go. It being impossible to procure a boat and men for the 
purpose, it was resolved that Andre should return to New- York by land. 
For this dangerous attempt, he laid aside his uniform altogether, and 
put on another dress. Arnold furnished him with a horse, and accom- 
panied by Smith, he set out upon his journey. Each of them had a 
passport from Arnold — "to go to the lines on White Plains, or lower, if 
the bearer thought proper ; he being on public business." 

By means of these passports, they got beyond all the American 
outposts and guards, without being suspected. They lodged together 
on the night of their departure at Crompond. They arrived without 
interruption, a little beyond Pine's Bridge, a village situated on the 
Croton. They had not yet crossed the lines, though they were in sight 
of the ground occupied by the British troops. Smith here looked round, 
and seeing no one, and no sign of danger, he said to Andre — "You are 
safe — good by," and retook the road by which they had come. Andre 
put spurs to his horse, and supposing himself out of danger, rode forward 
at full speed to deliver the favorable result of his mission. He had pro- 
ceeded about a dozen miles with the same good fortune. He was about 
entering Tarrytown, the border village that separated him from the royal 
army, when a man sprung suddenly from a thicket, and exclaimed, 
"where are you bound?" This man was armed with a gun, and was 
immediately joined by two armed companions. They were not in uni- 
form, and Andre supposed at once they must be of his own party. In- 
stead of producing his passport, he asked them in his turn, where they 
belonged. They replied, "to below," alluding to New- York. "And so 
do I," said Andre, "I am a British officer, on urgent business, and must 
not be detained." "You belong to our enemies," was the reply, "and 
we arrest you." 



WASHINGTON. 35 

Andre was surprised at this unexpected language, presented his pass- 
port, but this piper only served to render his case more suspicious, when 
considered in connexion with his confessions. He offered them gold, his 
horse, and promised large rewards, and permanent provision from the 
English government, if they would let him escape. They refused all his 
offers, and proceeding to search him, they found in his boots, in the 
handwriting of Arnold, exact returns of the state of the forces, ordnance, 
and defences of West Point, with many other important papers. No 
longer in doubt, they carried him at once before Colonel Jameson, who 
commanded the outposts. Andre retained his self-possession, and still 
passing under his assumed name, requested permission to write to Ar- 
nold, to inform him that his messenger was detained. Jameson thought 
it more simple to order him to be conducted to Arnold, and was already 
on his way for that purpose, when the suspicious circumstances of the 
case induced him to change his mind; and sending in all haste after the 
pretended Anderson, had him conveyed under guard to Old Salem. He 
despatched at the same time an express to Washington, containing an 
account of the affair, with the draughts and other papers taken from the 
prisoner. But the commander-in-chief, who set out on the same day, the 
twenty-third of September, to return to his army, had parsued a different 
route from that by which he went to Hartford, and the messenger was 
compelled to retrace his steps without having seen him. This delay 
proved the salvation of Arnold. 

Jameson began to regard his suspicions of Arnold as unjust and un- 
worthy, and wrote him that Anderson, the bearer of his passport, had 
been arrested. Arnold was busy with his arrangements for the reception 
of the enemy, when he received the letter from Jameson. Those who 
were present at the time, afterwards recollected that he was very much 
dismayed and agitated. Recovering himself quickly, he said in a loud 
voice that he would write an answer, and withdrew to reflect upon the 
course which it was best for him to pursue. The entrance of two Ame- 
rican officers interrupted his reflections. They were sent by the com- 
mander-in-chief, and informed Arnold that he had arrived within a few 
leagues of West Point, and was to have set out a few hours after them, 
to complete his journey. The traitor had now no safety but in immedi- 
ate flight. Concealing his emotions, he told the two officers that he 
wished to go and meet the general alone, and begged them not to follow 
him. He then entered the apartment of his wife, exclaiming — " All is 
discovered ; Andre is a prisoner ; the commander-in-chief will know eve- 
ry thing. Burn all my papers — I fly to New-York." 

Leaving his wife, without waiting for a reply, he mounted the horse of 
one of the two officers, and rushed towards the Hudson. Here he had 
taken care to have always ready a barge well manned. He threw him- 
self into it, and ordered the boatmen to make for the English sloop with 
all possible despatch. The barge, bearing a flag of truce, was in sight 
when Washington arrived. The officers related to him what had hap- 
pened. Arnold had absconded, and no one knew how to account for it. 
The commander-in-chief instantly repaired to the fort of West Point, but 
he could learn nothing there. He returned to the house of General Ar- 



36 WASHINGTON. 

nold, where the messenger of Jameson presented himself, and delivered 
the packet with which he was charged. Washington seemied for a few 
moments overwhelmed by the enormity of the crime. Those who were 
near him waited silently, but impatiently, for the result. He at length 
said — " I thought that an officer of courage and ability, who had often 
shed his blood for his country, was entitled to confidence, and I gave him 
mine. I am convinced now, and for the rest of my life, that we should 
never trust those who are wanting in probity, whatever abilities they may 
possess. — Arnold has betrayed us." Major Andre was conducted to West 
Point, and afterwards to headquarters at Tappan. A court-martial was 
here instituted, and this unfortunate officer was condemned to death. 
General Washington was now called upon to discharge a duty from which 
he revolted, and it is said that his hand could hardly command his pen, 
when signing the warrant for the execution. But the laws and usages of 
war required that Andre should die, and he accordingly perished on the 
scaffold. 

The treason of Arnold, the capture of Andre, together with private 
intelligence received from New- York, induced General Washington to 
believe that other officers in his army were connected with the late con- 
spiracy. This belief gave him great uneasiness. The moment he reached 
the army, then encamped at Tappan, under the command of Major Gene- 
ral Greene, he sent to request an interview with Major Lee. This officer 
immediately repaired to headquarters, and found the general in his 
marquee alone, busily engaged in writing. As soon as Lee entered, he 
was requested to take a seat, and a bundle of papers, lying on the table, 
was given to him for perusal. In these much information was detailed, 
tending to prove that Arnold was not alone in treachery, but that the 
poison had spread, and that a Major General, whose name was not 
concealed, was certainly as guilty as Arnold himself This officer had 
enjoyed, without interruption, the complete confidence of the commander- 
in-chief The only reSson for suspicion rested on the intelligence deriv- 
ed from papers before him. Major Lee immediately suggested that the 
whole was a contrivance of Sir Henry Clinton, to destroy the necessary 
confidence between the commander and his officers. This suggestion 
had occurred to the mind of Washington ; but he was still anxious and 
distrustful. Deeply agitated, as was plainly shown by his tone and 
countenance, the general proceeded : " I have sent for you, in the expec- 
tation that you have in your corps individuals capable and willing to 
undertake an indispensable, delicate, and hazardous project. Whoever 
comes forward will oblige me forever, and, in behalf of the United States, 
I will reward him amply. No time is to be lost. My object is to probe 
to the bottom the afflicting intelligence contained in the papers you have 
just read ; to seize Arnold, and, by getting him, to save Andre. They 
are all connected. My instructions are ready ; here are two letters to be 
delivered as ordered, and some guineas for expenses." 

Major Lee replied that he had no doubt his legion contained many 
individuals capable of the most daring enterprises. There were some 
feelings of delicacy that prevented him from suggesting the step to a 
commissioned officer, but he thought the sergeant major of the cavalry in 



WASHINGTON. 37 

all respects qualified for the undertaking, and to him he would venture to 
propose it. He then described the sergeant, as a native of Loudon county, 
in Virginia, about twenty-four years of age, rather above the common 
size, full of bone and muscle, grave and inflexible. He had enlisted in 
1776, and was as likely to reject a service coupled with ignominy as any 
officer in the corps. The general exclaimed that he was the very man 
for the business ; that he must undertake it ; that going to the enemy at 
the request of his officer was not desertion, though it appeared to be so. 
He enjoined that this explanation should be impressed upon Champe, as 
coming from him, and that the vast good in prospect should be contrasted 
with the mere semblance of doing wrong. This he hoped would remove 
every scruple. 

Major Lee assured the general, that every exertion should be used on 
his part to execute his wishes, and, taking leave, returned to the cam.p of 
the light corps, which he reached about eight o'clock at night. He sent 
instantly for the sergeant major, and introduced the subject in as judicious 
a manner as possible. Dressing out the enterprise in brilliant colors, he 
finally removed all scruples fiom the honorable mind of Champe, and 
prevailed on him to yield entirely to his wishes. The instructions were 
then read to him. He was particularly cautioned to be careful in deliver- 
ing his letters, and urged to bear constantly in mind that Arnold was not 
to be killed under any circumstances, but only to be taken prisoner. — 
Giving the sergeant three guineas, he recommended him to start without 
delay, and enjoined him to communicate his arrival in New- York as soon 
thereafter as might be practicable. Pulling out his watch, Champe 
reminded the major of the necessity of holding back pursuit, as he should 
be obliged to go in a zigzag direction in order to avoid the patroles. It was 
now nearly eleven; the sergeant returned to camp, and, taking his cloak, 
valise, and orderly book, drew his horse from the picket, and, mounting, 
committed himself to fortune. Within half an hour, Captain Carnes, the 
officer of the day, waited on the major, and told him that one of the pati»ol 
had fallen in with a dragoon, who, on being challenged, had put spurs to 
his horse, and escaped. Major Lee contrived various expedients to delay 
sending a party in pursuit ; but it was finally despatched, under the 
command of cornet Middleton. 

When Middleton departed, it was only a few minutes past twelve, so 
that Champe had only the start of about an hour. Lee was very anxious, 
not only from fear that Ciianipe might be injured, but that the enterprise 
might be delayed. The pursuing party were delayed by necessary halts 
to examine the road. A shower had fallen soon after Champc's departure, 
which enabled them to take the trail of his horse, as no other animal had 
passed along the road since the rain. When the day broke, Middleton 
was no longer obliged to halt, but passed on with great rapidity. As the 
pursuing party reached the top of a hill on the north of the village of 
Bergen, they descried Champe not more than half a mile in front. The 
sergeant at the same moment discovered them, and gave the spurs to his 
horse. He eluded them, just as they felt secure of taking him, and again 
disappeared. Pursuit was renewed, and Champe was again descried. 
He had changed his original intention of soing directlv to Paules Hook, 



38 



WASHINGTON. 



and determined to seek refuge from two British galleys, which lay a few 
miles to the west of Bergen. 




As soon as Champe got abreast of the galleys, he dismounted, and ran 
through the marsh to the river. He had previously prepared himself for 
'imming, by lashing his valise on his shoulders, and throwmg away the 
scabb ard of his sword. The pursuit was so close and rapid, that the stop 
occasioned by these preparations for swimming had brought Middleton 
v^itbin two or three hundred yards. The sergeant plunged into the water, 
^.-.f^ c&lled upon the galleys for help. They sent a boat to meet him ; he 
was taken on board, and conveyed to New- York, with a letter from^ the 
captain of the galley, who had witnessed the whole of the scene. The 
horse, with his equipments, the sergeant's cloak and sword scabbard, 
were taken by the pursuing party. About three o'clock in the evening 
they returned, and the soldiers, seeing the horse, made the air resound 
with cries that the scoundrel was killed. Called by this heart rending 
annunciation from his tent. Major Lee began to reproach himself with the 
blood of the faithful and intrepid Champe. He was relieved by Middle- 
ton's information, that the sergeant had made his escape. The command- 
er-in-chief was sensibly affected by the perilous adventures of Champe, 
and anticipated the confidence that would follow the enemy's knowledge 
of its manner. Champe was conducted to Sir Henry Clinton, who, after 
a long conversation, presented him with a couple of guineas, and recom 
mend°ed him to call on General Arnold, who was engaged in raising an 
American legion in the service of his majesty. Arnold expressed much 
satisfaction on hearing from Champe the manner of his escape, and the 
influence which he attributed to his own example, and concluded his 
numerous mquiries by assigning him quarters. 

Champe now turned his attention to the delivery of his letters, which 
he was unable to effect till the next night, and then only to one of the 
parties. This man received the- sergeant with extreme attention, and 
assured him that he might rely on his prompt assistance in any thing thai 



WASHINGTON. 39 

could be prudently undertaken. The sole object in which the aid of this 
individual was required, was in regard to the general and others of the 
army, implicated in the information sent by him to Washington. This 
object he promised to enter upon with zeal. Five days had elapsed after 
reaching New- York, before Champc saw the confidant to whom only the 
attempt against Arnold was to be entrusted. This person entered at once 
into his design, and promised to procure a suitable associate. The com- 
plete innocence of the suspected general was soon established. Andre 
had confessed the character in which he stood, disdaining to defend 
himself by the shadow of a falsehood. He had been condemned as a spy, 
and had suffered accordingly. 

Nothing now remained to be done by Champe but the seizure and safe 
delivery of Arnold. To this object he gave his undivided attention, and 
Major Lee received from him the complete outlines of his plan on the 
nineteenth of October. Ten days elapsed before Champe brought his 
measures to a conclusion, when Lee was presented with his final commu- 
nication, ap|)ointing the third subsequent night for a party of dragoons to 
meet him at Hoboken, when he hoped to deliver Arnold to the officer. 
Champe had been improving every opportunity to become acquainted with 
the habits of the general. He discovered that it was his custom to return 
home at about twelve every night, and that, previous to going to bed, he 
always visited the garden. During this visit, the conspirators were to seize 
him, and, being prepared with a gag, were to apply it instantly. Adjoin- 
ing the house in which Arnold resided, and in which it was intended to 
seize and gag him, Champe had taken off several of the palings, and so 
replaced thera. that he could easily open his way to the adjoining alley. 
Into this alley he meant to have conveyed his prisoner, with the assistance 
of a single companion. Another associate was to be prepared with a 
boat to receive them at one of the wharves on the Hudson. 

Champe and his friend intended to have placed themselves each under 
Arnold's shoulder, and to have thus borne him through the most unfre- 
quented alleys and streets to the boats. If questioned, they were to 
represent him as a drunken soldier whom they were conveying to the 
guard house. The day arrived, and Lee, with a party of dragoons, left 
camp late in the evening, with three led accoutred horses, one for Arnold, 
one for the sergeant, and the third for his associate, never doubting the 
success of the enterprise. The party reached Hoboken about midnight. 
Hour after hour passed; no boat approached. At length the day broke, 
and the major, with his party, returned to camp. Washington was much 
chagrined at the issue, and apprehensive that the sergeant had been 
detected in his dangerous enterprise. It so happened that on the very 
day preceding the night fixed for the plot, Arnold had removed hib 
quarters to another part of the town, to superintend the embarkation of 
some troops. The American legion had been transferred from their 
barracks to one of the transports, so that Champe, instead of crossing the 
Hudson that night, was safely deposited on board one of the vessels of the 
fleet, whence he never departed till the troops under Arnold landed in 
Virginia. It was some time before he was able to escape from the British ; 
when he deserted, and, proceeding high up into Virginia, passed into 



40 WASHINGTON. 

North Carolina, and safely joined the army. His appearance excited 
great surprise among his former comrades, which was not a little in- 
creased when they saw the cordial reception he met with from the then 
Lieutenant Colonel Lee. His whole story soon became known to the 
corps, and excited universal admiration. Champe was introduced to 
General Greene, who cheerfully complied with certain promises that had 
been made to him by the commander-in-chief. He was provided with a 
good horse and money for his journey to headquarters. Washington 
treated him munificently, and presented him with his discharge from 
•lirther service, lest, in the vicissitudes of war, he should fall into the 
hands of the enemy, and die upon a gibbet. 

The campaign of this year ended with no very decided efforts, and the 
army went into winter quarters. On the first night of the new year a 
very serious mutiny broke out among the troops at Morristown. A 
preconcerted signal having been given, the whole line, except three 
regiments, paraded under arms without their officers, marched to the 
magazines, supplied themselves with provisions and ammunition, and 
seizing six fieldpieces, took horses from General Wayne's stable to 
transport them. The mutineers then ordered the party who opposed 
them to come over instantly or they should be bayoneted, and the com- 
mand was obeyed. General Wayne endeavored to interpose his influence 
and authority, but to no purpose ; on his cocking a pistol, they presented 
their bayonets to his breast and said, " We love and respect you; often 
have you led us into the field of battle, but we are no longer under your 
command ; we warn you to be on your guard ; if you fire your pistols, or 
attempt to enforce your commands, we shall put you instantly to death." 
G(!neral Wayne reasoned and expostulated with them to no purpose ; they 
enumerated their grievances, and determined to march to Philadelphia 
and demand of Congress the justice that had so long been denied to them. 
This transaction terminated successfully for the insurgents; they even- 
tually accomplished their views. 

Washington was far from being pleased at the issue of this affair, and 
determined to adopt more severe and decisive measures in future. A 
revolt shortly after broke out in another regiment, and he at once ordered 
a detachment of five hundred men to march and reduce them to duty. 
This party was placed under the command of Major General Robert 
Howe. On the twenty-seventh of January, about daylight, this detach- 
ment arrived within sight of the huts of the insurgents. Here they were 
halted, and received orders to load their arms. General Howe then 
addressed them, representing the enormity of the crime of the mutineers, 
and adding that no terms could be made with them till they were brought 
to entire submission. The troops were then directed to surround the 
huts on all sides. He then ordered his aid-de-camp to command the 
mutineers to cippear in front of their huts, unarmed, within five minutes. 
A second messenger was sent, and they immediately formed as they were 
directed. Being thus overpowered, the mutineers quietly submitted to 
their fate. General Howe ordered that three of the ringleaders should be 
selected for immediate punishn)ent. These wretched men were tried on 
the spot, by a court-martial standing in the snow, and were sentrno^^d to 



WASHINGTON 41 

be shot. Twelve of the most guilty mutineers were- now chosen to be 
their executioners. Two of these offenders were shot, and the third 
pardoned. The terror of this scene produced a very powerful effect upon 
the guilty soldiers. They asked pardon of their officers, and promised a 
faithful discharge of duty for the future. 

On the first of May, 1781, Washington commenced a military journal, 
in which he makes a brief summary of the wants and prospects of the 
army. " Instead of having magazines filled with provisions, we have a 
scanty pittance scattered here and there in the distant states. Instead 
of having our arsenals well supplied with military stores, they are poorly 
provided and the workmen all leaving them. Instead of having the 
various articles of field equipage in readiness, the quartermaster is but 
now applying to the several states to provide these things for their troops 
respectively. Instead of having a regular system of transportation estab- 
lished upon credit, or funds in the quartermaster's hands to defray the 
contingent expenses thereof, we have neither the one nor the other ; and 
all that business, or a great part of it, being done by impressment, we are 
daily and hourly oppressing the people, souring their tempers, and alien- 
ating their affections. Instead of having the regiments completed agreea- 
ble to the requisitions of Congress, scarce any state in the Union has at 
this hour one eighth part of its quota in the field, and there is little 
prospect of ever getting more than half In a word, instead of having 
any thing in readiness to take the field, we have nothing : and instead of 
having the prospect of a glorious offensive campaign before us, we have a 
bewildered and gloomy prospect of a defensive one ; unless we should 
receive a powerful aid of ships, troops, and money, from our generous 
allies, and these at present are too contingent to build upon." 

While the Americans were laboring under the embarrassments and 
troubles which introduced the year 1781, the enemy were laying plans 
for more extensive operations than they had hitherto attempted. Their 
previous policy had been concentration, but events seemed to indicate 
that division would be more successful, by enabling them to make an 
impression on several points at the same time. In this campaign they 
carried on the war, not only in the vicinity of their headquarters at New- 
York, but in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and in Virginia. Of 
course, the commander-in-chief could have no immediate agency in the 
southern department ; he deemed it of more importance to remain on the 
Hudson, not only to secure the most important post in the United States, 
but to concert the operations which resulted in the termination of the war. 

While the British were in the Potomac, they sent a flag on shore at 
Mount Vernon, requiring a supply of fresh provisions. To prevent the 
destruction of property which would follow a refusal, the person who had 
the management of the estate complied with this request, and requested 
that the buildings might be spared. For this Washington severely repri- 
manded him : " It would have been a less painful circumstance to me to 
have heard, that, in consequence of your noncompliance with the request 
of the British, they had burned my house, and laid my plantation in ruins. 
You ought to have considered yourself as my representative, and should 
have reflected on the bad example of communicating with the enemy, and 
6 



42 WASHINGTON 

making a voluntarj'^offer of refreshment to them, with a view to prevent a 
conflagration." 

It was at this period that Washington received intelligence that the 
French government had loaned to the United States the sum of six 
millions of livres, and had resolved to equip a fleet to co-operate with the 
land force of the Americans. In conformity with this arrangement, 
M. de Grasse sailed from Brest in March, and, after some preliminary 
movements in the West Indies, arrived in the Chesapeake on the thirtieth 
of August. Here he was soon joined by the French fleet from Rhode 
Island. The plan of operation had been so well digested, and was so well 
executed, that Washington and Count Rochambeau had passed the British 
headquarters at New- York, and were considerably advanced in their 
way to Yorktown, before Count de Grasse had reached the American coast. 

The first determination of Washington had been to attack New-York, 
but the arrival of the additional fleet induced him to change his operations, 
and to march to Virginia and lay siege to the post of Lord Cornwallis at 
Yorktown. This expedition Washington had determined to command in 
person, and had advanced as far as Chester, when he received the news 
of the arrival of the fleet commanded by M. de Grasse. He immediately 
visited the count, attended by several of the general officers of the French 
and American armies. A plan of operations was then agreed upon, and 
the combined forces proceeded on their way to Yorktown. In this place, 
Lord Cornwallis, with the royal army, had constructed strong fortifications. 
It is a little village, on the south bank of the river York, about fifteen 
miles from its entrance into Chesapeake Bay. The British forces 
amounted to seven thousand men ; the allied army to about twelve 
thousand. The works erected for the security of the town weie redoubts 
and batteries, and every effort was made to strengthen them. On the 
first of October, the allied armies had made some progress in the siege. 
They had compelled the British to abandon several of their redoubts, and 
retire within the town. During a severe cannonade from the enemy, 
while the Rev. Mr. Evans was standing near the commander-in-chief, a 
shot struck the ground so near as to cover his hat with sand. Being 
much agitated, he took off" his hat, and said, " See here, general." " Mr. 
Evans," replied Washington with his usual composure, " you had better 
carry that heme, and show it to your wife and children." 

The American troops labored for a number of days, with incessant 
activity, in digging trenches and erecting batteries. Two or three 
batteries having been prepared to open upon the town, General Washing- 
ton put the match to the first gun, and a furious' discharge of cannon and 
mortars immediately followed. From the tenth to the fifteenth of the 
month, a severe and continual firing was kept up by the allied armies. 
The enemy returned the fire with little eflfect. During this period, a shell 
from the French battery set fire to a forty-four gun ship, and two or three 
smaller vessels in the river. It was in the night time, and presented a 
splendid spectacle. The fire spread all over the ships, running about the 
rigging to the tops of the masts, and casting a broad and bright flame over 
the waters. This dreadful scene, in the darkness of night, amid the roar 
of cannon and bursting of shells, must have been brilliant and sublime. 



WASHINGTON. 



43 



A fine description of this siege is given by Dr. Thatcher. " Being in the 
trenches," he observes, '^ every other night and day, I have a fine 
opportunity of witnessing the sublime and stupendous scene which is 
continually exhibiting. The bomb shells from the besiegers and the 
besieged are incessantly crossing each others' path in the air. They are 
clearly visible in the form of a black ball in the day, but in the night they 
appear like a fiery meteor with a blazing tail, most beautifully brilliant, 
ascending majestically from the mortar to a certain altitude, and gradu- 
ally descending to the spot where they are destined to execute their work 
of destruction." 

- After carrying on this kind of warfare for a number of days, the 
American gener;'? determined to take possession of two redoubts about 
three hundred yards in front of the principal works of the enemy, and 
which presented formidable impediments to their approaches. These 
redoubts were both assaulted at the same time ; one by a brigade of 
American troops under the command of the Marquis de La Fayette, and 
the other by a French detachment under the Baron de Viomenil. The 
assault commenced at eight o'clock in the evening, and was soon suc- 
cessfully concluded ; the Americans losing but a very few men, and the 
French a considerable number. The reason of this difference in the loss 
of men was, that the Americans, in coming to the abatis, tore away a 
part of it, and leapt over the remainder. "The French, however, waited 
till their pioneers had cut away the abatis according to rule, being 
exposed, meanwhile, to a severe fire from the enemy. When the marquis 
entered the works, he sent his aid. Major Barbour, through a terrible 
fire of the enemy, to inform Baron Viomenil, " that he was in his redoubt, 
and to ask the baron where he was." The messenger found the French 
troops clearing away the abatis, but the baron sent back this answer — 
" Tell the marquis I am not in mine, but will be in five minutes." He 
advanced, and entered the works within his time. 

During the assault, the British kept up a very severe and incessant fire 




of musketry and cannon. Washington and the generals Lincoln and 
Knox, with their aids, were standing in an exposed situation, waiting the 



44 WASHINGTON. 

result. One of Washington's aids, solicitous for his safety, said to him, 
" Sir, you are too much exposed here ; had you not better step a little 
back ?" " Colonel Cobb," replied the general, " if you are afraid, you 
have liberty to step back." 

On the seventeenth of the month. Lord Cornwallis was reduced to the 
necessity of sending out a flag, to request a cessation of hostilities for 
twenty-four hours. Two or three flags passed in the course of the day, 
and at length a suspension of hostilities for two hours was resolved 
upon. At an early hour in the forenoon of the eighteenth, Washington 
communicated to the British commander the basis of the terms of capitu- 
lation to which he would consent. A sufficient time was allowed for 
reply. Two officers were then selected from each army to meet, and 
prepare the particular articles of agreement. These were arranged, and 
confirmed by the commanders-in-chief On the nineteenth of October, 
preparations were made to receive the British general and his soldiers 
prisoners of war. The terms of capitulation were similar to those granted 
to General Lincoln, at Charleston. At about twelve o'clock, the allied 
armies were arranged, and drawn up in two lines, extending more than a 
mile in length. The Americans, with General Washington at their head, 
occupied the right side of the road ; the French, with Count Rochambeau, 
occupied the left. The French troops were in complete and beautiful 
uniform, and presented a very military and noble appearance. The 
Americans were not dressed so neatly, but their air was martial, their step 
lightened, and their countenance animated with joy. Great crowds were 
collected from the neighboring villages to witness the ceremony. 

At about two o'clock, the captive army advanced through the lines 
formed to receive them. It was expected that Lord Cornwallis would be 
at their head, but he pretended indisposition, and made General O'Hara 
his substitute. This officer was followed by the conquered troops, with 
shouldered arms, colors cased, and drums beating a slow and solemn 
march. Having arrived at the head of the line. General O'Hara advanced 




10 Washington, and apologized for the absence of Lord Cornwallis. The 
commander-in-chief courteously pointed to General Lincoln for directions. 



WASHINGTON. ^ 45 

This officer conducted the British army into a large field, where they were 
to ground their arms. This was a severe trial for the disciplined and 
haughty soldiers of England. It was a great mortification to yield to 
raw continentals, and to the Yankee general whom they had ridiculed in 
their farces. Some of the platoon officers were weak enough to make no 
secret of their chagrin and ill temper. After having grounded their arms, 
and taken off their accoutrements, the captives were reconducted to 
Yorktown, and put under guard. 

In his general orders on the next day, Washington expressed his 
warmest thanks to the soldiers and officers of the combined army for their 
brave conduct during the siege. Wishing that every heart should share 
in the general joy, he gave orders that all in confinement or under arrest 
should be at once pardoned and set at liberty. The troops were 
immediately employed in embarking the artillery and military stores on 
board of transports for the North river. Lord Cornwallis and his officers 
received every civility and attention from the American generals, that it 
was in their power to bestow. General Washington and Count Rocham- 
beau frequently invited them to entertainments, and they expressed 
grateful acknowledgments of their hospitality. On one occasion, when 
Cornwallis, in the presence of the commander-in-chief, was standing 
with his head uncovered, Washington politely said to him, " My lord, 
you had better be covered from the cold." " It matters little, sir," 
replied Cornwallis, " what becomes of this head now." 

An anecdote has been told of Washington, which reflects as much 
credit upon his delicacy of feeling, as the event to which it relates does 
upon his military skill. After the surrended of the town, when the British 
soldiers were marching forth from the garrison to deliver up their arms, 
the commander-in-chief thus addressed the division of the army to which 
he was attached : " My brave fellows, let no sensation of satisfaction for 
the triumphs you have gained, induce you to insult your fallen enemy — 
let no shouting, no clamorous huzzaing increase their mortification. It 
is sufficient that we witness their humiliation. Posterity will huzza for us." 

When Congress received the letter from Washington, that announced 
the surrender of the British army, they determined to go in procession, at 
two o'clock, to the Dutch Lutheran church, and return thanks to Heaven 
for the success of the allied forces. They issued a proclamation for 
observing, throughout the United States, the thirteenth of December as a 
day of thanksgiving and prayer. They also resolved to erect in Yorktown 
a marble column adorned with emblems of the alliance between the 
United States and his most Christian Majesty of France, and inscribed 
with a brief narrative of the surrender of the British army. Two stands 
of colors, taken from the enemy at the capitulation, were presented to 
General Washington by Congress, in the name of the United States. 
Two pieces of field ordnance, taken at the same time, by a resolve of 
Congress were presented to Count Rochambeau. On these a few words 
were engraved, expressing that the gift was made in consideration of the 
part which this officer had borne in effecting the surrender. 

After the capture of Cornwallis, Washington, with the greater part of 
his army, returned to the vicinity of New- York. Though complete succese 



46 WASHINGTON. 

had been attained in Virginia, and great advantages in the Carolinas, the 
commander-in-chief urged immediate preparations for another campaign. 
He was afraid that Congress would think the work so nearly done, as to 
relax their efforts in raising the requisite number of troops. In a letter 
to General Greene, he observed, " I shall attempt to stimulate Congress 
to the best improvement of our late success, by taking the most vigorous 
and effectual measures to be ready for an early and decisive campaign the 
next year. My greatest fear is, that, viewing this stroke in a point of 
light which may too much magnify its importance, they may think our 
work too nearly closed, and fall into a state of languor and relaxation. 
To prevent this error, I shall employ every means in my power, and, if 
unhappily we sink into this fatal mistake, no part of the blame shall be 
mine." The military establishment for 1782 was passed with great 
celerity, and the attention of Washington was incessantly occupied with 
the plan of dislodging the British from their strong holds of New- York 
and Charleston. 

While he was concerting measures with a view to co-operate with the 
French for this purpose, intelligence arrived that the discontinuance of 
the war had been moved and debated in the British parliament. Early 
in May, Sir Guy Carleton, the successor of Sir Henry Clinton as com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces in America, arrived in New- York, 
and announced in successive communications the increased probability 
of a speedy peace. The expected approach of peace relaxed the efforts 
of the states, and it was impossible to procure funds for the pay and 
subsistence of the troops. In a letter to the Secretary of War, Washington 
observed — " I cannot help fearing the result of reducing the army, where 
I see such a number of men, goaded by a thousand stings of reflection on 
the past, and of anticipation on the future, about to be turned into the 
world, soured by penury and what they call the ingratitude of the (.public; 
involved in debts without one farthing of money to carry them home, after 
having spent the flower of their days and many of them their patrimonies, 
in establishing the freedom and independence of their country, and having 
suffered every thing which human nature is capable of enduring on this 
side of death. I repeat it, when I reflect on these irritable circumstances, 
I cannot avoid apprehending that a train of evils will follow, of a very 
serious and distressing nature." These apprehensions were Avell founded ; 
and when the army retired into winter quarters, Washington remained 
in the camp to watch and control the discontents of the soldiers, though 
there was no probability of any military operations to require his presence. 
During the whole campaign of this year, not a gun had been fired 
between the two armies. 

Nothing had been decided by Congress, in respect to the claims of the 
soldiers, when news arrived, in March, 1783, that Great Britain had 
acknowledged the independence of the United States in the preceding 
November. This intelligence spread around an universal joy. The 
army exulted with the rest of their fellow-citizens, but their gladness was 
clouded with fears of injustice in their country. They thought their 
prospect of compensation diminished with the necessity of their services. 
Petitions had been presented to Congress in respect to the pay of officers, 



WASHINGTON. 47 

but the objects which they solicited were not obtained. Under these 
circumstances, anonymous addresses were circulated in the army, which 
produced the most violent excitement. Every indication was given of a 
storm that would destroy the peace of the country, and its new liberties. 
A paper had been privately handed about, calling a meeting of the officers 
on the next day. It was an occasion that demanded all the wisdom and 
influence of Washington. He accordingly noticed the anonymous summons 
in general orders, and requested a meeting, nominally for the same purpose, 
four days later. In the mean time, sending for the officers one after ano- 
ther, he enlarged upon the fatal consequences that would result from the 
adoption of any violent measures. His unwearied effijrts were used to 
quiet the agitation. When the officers assembled, Washington arose to 
address them. Finding his eyesight fail him, he observed — " My eyes 
have grown dim in my country's service, but I never doubted of its 
justice." He then delivered a very interesting and feeling address. After 
commenting fully upon the anonymous papers that had been circulated in 
the camp, he entreated the officers to rely on the justice and good faith of 
Congress. " Let me request you," he observed, " to rely on the plighted 
faith of your country, and place a full confidence in the purity of the 
intentions of Congress, that, previous to your dissolution as an army, they 
will cause all your accounts to be fairly liquidated, as directed in the 
resolutions which were published to you two days ago ; and that they will 
adopt the most effectual measures in their power to render ample justice 
to you for your faithful and meritorious services. And let me conjure 
you in the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred 
honor, as you respect the rights of humanity, and as you regard the 
military and national character of America, to express your utmost horror 
and detestation of the man who wishes, under any specious pretences, to 
overtuq^the liberties of our country, and who wickedly attempts to open 
the floods of civil discord, and deluge our rising empire in blood. By 
thus determining and thus acting, you will pursue the plain and direct 
road to the attainment of your wishes ; you will defeat the insidious 
designs of our enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to 
secret artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled 
patriotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most 
complicated sufferings ; and you will, by the dignity of your conduct, 
afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example 
you have exhibited to mankind, — ' Had this day been wanting, the world 
had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is 
capable of attaining.' " 

Having finished his eloquent and powerful address, his Excellency 
withdrew, and the convention unanimously resolved to present him their 
thanks, and assure him " that the officers reciprocate his affectionate 
expressions with the greatest sincerity of which the human heart is 
capable." General Knox, Colonel Brooks, and Captain Howard were 
then appointed a committee, to prepare resolutions expressive of the 
business of the convention, and to report in half an hour. These reso- 
lutions professed an undiminished attachment to the liberties of their 
country, and an unshaken confidence in the justice of Congress. The 



48 WASHINGTON. 

result of these proceedings was communicated, by the commander-in- 
chief, to Congress, accompanied by an impressive letter. " If the whole 
army," he observes in the course of it, " have not merited whatever a 
grateful people can bestow, then have I been beguiled by prejudice, and 
built opinion on the basis of error. If this country should not in the 
event perform every thing which has been requested in the late memorials 
to Congress, then will my belief become vain, and the hope that has been 
excited, void of foundation. * * * But I am under no such appre- 
hension. A country rescued by their arms from impending ruin, will 
never leave unpaid the debt of gratitude." Congress at length came to 
resolutions, in which they expressed a desire to gratify the reasonable 
expectations of the officers of the army, and remove all objections which 
might exist in any part of the United States to the principles of the half 
pay, which had been pledged to them. They commuted the half pay for 
life to full pay for the space of five years, at the option of the parties 
interested. 

The commander-in-chief thus addressed the army on the cessation of 
hostilities, in April : " The commander-in-chief orders the cessation of 
hostilities, between the United States of America and the king of Great 
Britain, to be publicly proclaimed to-morrow at twelve o'clock, at the 
New Building; and that the proclamation which will be communicated 
herewith be read to-morrow evening, at the head of every regiment and 
corps of the army; after which, the chaplains, with the several brigades, 
will render thanks to Almighty God for all his mercies, particularly for 
his overruling the wrath of man to his own glory, and causing the rage 
of war to cease among the nations." 

The reduction of the army had been resolved by Congress, but it was 
a difficult measure, and required deliberation. To avoid the inconvenience 
of dismissing a great number of soldiers in a body, furloughs weJ% freely 
granted on the application of individuals, and, after their dispersion, they 
were not enjoined to return. In this manner a great part of an unpaid 
army was dispersed over the states, without tumult or disorder. 

While the troops under the immediate command of Washington mani- 
fested the utmost good conduct, a mutiny broke out among some new 
levies stationed at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. About eighty soldiers, 
in defiance of their officers, marched to Philadelphia, to seek a redress 
of their alleged grievances from the executive council of the state. They 
proceeded to the barracks in the city, where some other soldiers were 
quartered, who joined them. The whole body amounted to about three 
hundred. On the following day, the insurgents, with drums beating and 
fixed bayonets, marched to the State-house, the seat of Congress and of 
the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania. They placed sentinels 
at every door, sent in a written message to the president and council, and 
tlireatened to break in upon them, if their demands were not granted 
within twenty minutes. No further insult was offered to Congress, but 
they were confined in this manner for about three hours. Congress 
resolved that the authority of the United States had been grossly insulted 
by the armed soldiers, and it was determined that a committee of their 
body should confer with the executive council, and if it should appear to 



WASHINGTON. 49 

the committee, that the state of Pennsylvania ought not to take measures 
to support the dignity of the federal government, the president should 
summon the Congress to meet on Thursday, the twenty-sixth, at Princeton 
or Trenton. The Secretary of War was also directed to communicate 
to the commander-in-chief the state and disposition of the mutineers. 

On receiving information of this disgraceful outrage, Washington im- 
mediately despatched Major General Howe, with fifteen hundred men, 
to quell the mutineers, and punish the most guilty of them. Before his 
arrival, however, they had dispersed without bloodshed. Several were 
brought to trial, two were condemned to death, and four others to receive 
corporal punishment. 

On this occasion, General Washington addressed the president of 
Congress in very feeling and eloquent language : 

" While I suffer the most poignant distress in observing that a handful 
of men, contemptible in rmmbers, and equally so in point of service, if 
the veteran troops from the southward have not been seduced by their 
example, and who are not worthy to be called soldiers, should disgrace 
themselves and their country, as the Pennsylvania mutineers have done, 
by insulting the sovereign authority of the United States and that of their 
own; I feel an inexpressible satisfaction, that even this behavior cannot 
stain the name of the American soldiery. It cannot be imputable to, or 
reflect dishonor on, the army at large, but, on the contrary, it will, by 
the striking contrast it exhibits, hold up to public view the other troops 
in the most advantageous point of light. On taking all the circumstances 
into consideration, I cannot sufficiently express my surprise and indigna- 
tion at the arrogance, the folly, and the wickedness of the mutineers; 
nor can I sufficiently admire the fidelity, the bravery and patriotism which 
must forever signalize the unsullied character of the other corps of our 
army. For when we consider that these Pennsylvania levies, who have 
now mutinied, are recruits, and soldiers of a day, who have not borne 
the heat and burden of war, and who can have in reality very few 
hardships to complain of; and when we at the same time recollect that 
those soldiers, who have lately been furloughed from this army, are the 
veterans who have patiently endured hunger, nakedness, and coid ; who 
have suffered and bled without a murmur, and who, with perfect good 
order, have retired to their homes, without a settlement of their accounts, 
or a farthing of money in their pockets, — we shall be as much astonish- 
ed at the virtues of the latter, as we are struck with horror and detes- 
tation at the proceedings of the former." 

On the second of November, 1783, General Washington issued his 
farewell orders to the armies of the United States. After noticing a 
recent proclamation of Congress, he observed that it only remained to 
address himself for the last time to the armies of the United States, and 
to bid them an affectionate farewell. He remarked upon the circum- 
stances under which the war was begun ; the signal interpositions of 
Providence in their behalf; and their unparalleled perseverance through 
eight years of every possible suffering and discouragement. His closing 
words were — " Your general being now to conclude these his last public 
orders, to take his ultimate leave, in a short time, of the military charao 
7 



50 WASHINGTON. 

ter, and to bid adieu to the armies he has so long had the honor to 
command, lie can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations 
to their grateful country, and his prayers to the Grod of armies. May 
ample justice be done to them here, and may the choicest of Heaven's 
favors, both here and hereafter, attend those, who, under the divine 
auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for others ! With these 
wishes, and this benediction, the commander-in-chief is about to retire 
from service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn, and the 
military scene, to him, will be closed forever." 

The treaty of peace was signed on the twenty-third of September, and 
a proclamation was issued by Congress to disband the army. Painful 
indeed, was the parting. The old soldiers, who had been sharers for 
seven years in privation and suffering, were to separate under circum- 
stances of the most distressing character. They were poor, without 
money or employment, and many with no other prospect than that of 
painful dependence or miserable penury. Though their whole military 
life had been a scene of want and wretchedness, it had sometimes been 
chequered with splendid triumphs, or at any rate had been throughout 
supported by an anxious excitement. That excitement was now past, 
for the object of their labors and sacrifices, the liberty of their common 
country, had been obtained. The glorious hope, that gleamed continual- 
ly before their eyes in the battles of the revolution, had been changed 
into a glorious certainty, by the declaration of peace • and now that the 
wrongs and sufferings of their country had been vindicated, their thoughts 
were naturally concentrated upon their individual fortunes. 

There were sorrow and suffering, want and wretchedness, but no 
tumult, no mutiny, no disorder. They would not end a succession of 
generous sacrifices by a violation of their faith and their duty; but de- 
termined to abandon their rights, rather than resort to force to recover 
them. 

The British army evacuated New- York in November, and the Ameri- 
can troops, under General Knox, took possession of the city. Soon after, 
General Washington and Governor Clinton, with their suite, made their 
public entry into the city on horseback, followed by a procession of civil 
and military officers, and a large number of citizens. General festivity 
reigned throughout the city, and the governor made a public dinner. 
This was followed, a day or two afterwards, by an elegant entertain- 
ment, given by the governor to the French ambassador, the Chevalier de 
la Luzerne. General Washington, the principal officers of New- York 
state, and of the army, and upwards of a hundred other gentlemen, were 
present. 

On Tuesday noon, the fourth of December, the principal officers of 
the army assembled at Francis's tavern, to take a final leave of their 
beloved commander-in-chief When Washington entered the room, his 
emotions were too strong to be repressed or concealed. Filling a glass-, 
he turned to the surrounding officers and said — "With a heart full of love 
and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your 
latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have 
been glorious and honorable." Having drank, he added, "I cannot come 



WASHINGTON. 



51 



to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged to you, if each of you 
will come and take me by the hand." General Knox, being nearest, 
turned to him. Washington, in tears, grasped his hand, embraced and 
kissed him. In the same manner he took leave of each succeeding 
officer, Lincoln, and Greene, and La Fayette, and the other valiant men 
with whom he had been connected in hours of peril and darkness, to be 
rewarded with endless gratitude and glory. 

Every eye was moistened with tears. Not a word was spoken to inter- 
rupt the silent solemnity of the parting. Leaving the room, Washington 
passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, 
where a coach was in waiting to receive him. The whole company fol- 
lowed in mute procession, with sad and dejected countenances. On 




entering the barge, he turned to his companions, and, waving his hat, 
bade them a silent farewell. They paid him a similar mark of respect 
and affection, and, when they could no longer distinguish in the barge 
the person of their beloved commander, returned, in the same solemn 
manner, to the place where they had first assembled. 

On the disbanding of the army, Washington proceeded to Annapolis, 
then the seat of Congress, to resign his commission. On his way thither, 
he delivered to the comptroller of accounts, at Philadelphia, an account 
of his receipts and expenditures of public money. The whole amount 
that had passed through his hands, was only <£14,479 18s. 9</. ster- 
ling. Nothing was charged or retained for his own services. The 
resignation of his command was made in a public audience. Congress 
received him as the guardian of his country and her liberties. He 
appeared there under the most affecting circumstances. The battles of 
a glorious war had been fought, since he first appeared before them to 
accept, with a becoming modesty, the command of their armies. Now 
the eyes of a whole nation were upon him, and the voices of a liberated 
people proclaimed him their preserver. 



52 WASHINGTON. 

His resignation was communicated, in the following address, to the 
President of Congress : 
" Mr. President, 

•' The great events on which my resignation depended, having at length 
taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations 
to Congress, and of presenting myself before them to surrender into their 
hands The trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring 
from the service of my country. 

"Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and 
pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a 
respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted 
with diffidence ; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a 
task, which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude 
of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the 
patronage of Heaven. 

" While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do 
icjustice to my own feelings, not to acknowledge, in this place, the 
peculiar services and distinguished merits of the persons who have been 
attached to my person during the war. It was impossible the choice 
of confidential officers, to compose my family, should have been more 
fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend, in particular, those who have 
continued in the service to the present moment, as worthy of the favora- 
ble notice and patronage of Congress. 

" I consider it as an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act 
of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to 
the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence 
of them to his holy keeping. 

" Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great 
theatre of action ; and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this august 
body, under whose orders I have long acted, I here offer my commis.sion, 
and take leave of all the employments of public life." 

This address being ended. General Washington advanced, and deliver- 
ed his commission into the hands of the President of Congress, who 
received it and made an appropriate reply. Having thus, of his own 
accord, become one of the people, the 'American chief hastened to his, 
delightful residence at Mount Vernon. 

The feelings and emotions of Washington, on thus going into retire- 
ment, were expressed in the following manner: " I feel as a wearied 
traveller must do, who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy 
burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven 
to which all the former were directed, and from his house-top is looking 
back and tracing, with an eager eye, the meanders by which he escaped 
the quicksands and mire which lay in his way, and into which none but 
the All- Powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have 
prevented his falling. 

" I have become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, and, 
under the shadow of my own vine and my own figtree, free from the bustle 
of a camp and the busy scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with 
those tranquil enjoyments of which the soldier, who is ever in pursuit of 



WASHINGTON. 53 

fame — the statesman, whose watchful days and sleepless nights are spent 
in devising schemes to promote the welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin 
of other countries, as if this globe was insufficient for us all — and the 
courtier, who is always watching the countenance of his prince, in the 
hope of catching a gracious smile, — can have very little conception. I 
have not only retired from all public employments, but am retiring within 
myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of 
private life, with heart-felt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am determined 
to be pleased with all ; and this, my dear friend, being the order of my 
march, I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my 
fathers." 

Washington now devoted his attention, with untiring industry, to the 
pursuits of agriculture and the extension of inland navigation. He 
corresponded with the officers and influential men of all the states on 
the most prominent subjects of public interest and improvement. He 
formed a plan to render the rivers Potomac and James navigable as high 
as practicable, and to open such inland navigation between these waters 
and those west of the Ohio, as would secure the trade of the western 
country to Virginia and Maryland. According to this suggestion, two 
companies were formed for opening the navigation of these rivers ; and 
of each, Washington consented to be the president. The legislature of 
Virginia directed the treasurer of the state to subscribe for one hundred 
and fifty shares in each company for the benefit of General Washington. 
This appropriation was generously made and as generously received. 
According to the desire of Washington, these shares were appropriated 
to the support of a college in the vicinity of each river. 

Near the close of the revolutionary war, the officers of the American 
army, with the view of continuing their intercourse and friendship, formed 
themselves into an association named the society of Cincinnati. Of the 
general society Washington officiated as president, from its institution in 
1783 till the time of his death. By the rules of this society, the honors 
of it were to be hereditary in the respective families, and distinguished 
individuals were to be admitted as honorary members for life. These 
aristocratic features of the institution alarmed the community, and excited 
a great degree of jealousy. On full inquiry, Washington found that these 
objections were general, and he therefore exerted his influence among the 
ofl^cers, to induce them to drop the offensive part of the institution. At 
the annual meeting, in May, 1787, these portions were accordingly ex- 
punged ; and the modification entirely quieted public apprehensions. 

The articles under which the United States originally confederated 
proved to be inadequate to the purposes of national government. A crisis 
was expected in public affairs, which would again require the personal 
presence and influence of W.ishington. His friends communicated freely 
with him on this subject, and his own apprehensions were deeply excited. 
In a letter to Mr. .lay, in 178G, he observed : " Your sentiments, tliat our 
aflfiiirs are drawing rapidly to a crisis, accord with my own. What the 
event will be is beyond the reach of my foresight. W^c have errors to 
correct ; we have probably had too good an opinion of human nature, in 
forming our confederation. Experience has taught us that men will not 



54 WASHINGTON. 

adopt and carry into execution, measures the best calculated for their own 
good, without the intervention of coercive power. I do not conceive we 
can exist long as a nation, without lodging, somewhere, a power which 
will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner, as the authority 
of the state governments extends over the several states. To be fearful 
of investing Congress, constituted as that body is, with ample authorities 
for national purposes, appears to me the very climax of popular absurdity 
and madness. Could Congress exert them for the detriment of the people, 
without injuring themselves in an equal or greater proportion 1 Are not 
their interests inseparably connected with those of their constituents? By 
the rotation of appointments, must they not mingle frequently with the 
mass of citizens? Is it not rather to be apprehended, if they were not 
possessed of the powers before described, that the individual members 
would be induced to use them, on many occasions, very timidly and 
inefficaciously, for fear of losing their popularity and future election ? 
We must take human nature as we find it ; perfection falls not to the 
share of mortals. 

" What then is to be done ? Things cannot go on in the same strain 
forever. It is much to be feared, as you observe, that the better kind of 
people, being disgusted with these circumstances, will have their minds 
prepared for any revolution whatever. We are apt to run from one 
extreme to another. To anticipate and prevent disastrous contingencies, 
would be the part of wisdom and patriotism. 

" What astonishing changes a few years are capable of producing ! I 
am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of 
government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking : thence 
to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous ! 
What a triumph for our enemies, to verify their predictions ! What a 
triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of 
governing ourselves, and that systems, founded on the basis of equal 
liberty, are merely ideal and fallacious. Would to God that wise measures 
may be taken in time to avert the consequences we have but too much 
reason to apprehend. 

" Retired as I am from the world, I frankly acknowledge I cannot feel 
myself an unconcerned spectator. Yet having happily assisted in bringing 
the ship into port, and having been fairly discharged, it is not my business 
to embark a^ain on the sea of troubles. Nor could it be expected that 
my sentiments and opinions would have much weight on the minds of my 
countrymen. They have been neglected, though given as a last legacy 
in a most solemn manner. I then, perhaps, had some claims to public 
attention. I consider myself as having none at present." 

Illumination on the subject of enlarging the powers of Congress was 
gradual. A convention of delegates from the several states was proposed, 
for the purpose of remodelling the terms of the confederation. This 
convention met in Philadelphia in May, and unanimously chose George 
Washington their President. On the seventeenth of September, 1787, 
they closed their labors, and submitted the result to Congress, with the' 
opinion that it should be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen 



WASHINGTON. ^5 



in each state by the people thereof, under the recommendation of its 
legislature, for its assent and ratification. 

The constitution being accepted by eleven of the states, and measures 
being taken for carrying it into execution, all eyes were turned towards 
Washington as the most suitable person to be President of the United 
States He was then fifty-seven years of age, and in the full enjoyment 
of health and vigor. It would appear, however, from numerous letters 
written about this period, that the return into public life was to him a 
source of anxiety and trouble which he would gladly have avoided. He 
was fond of retirement and private life. " Every personal consideration 
he observed in a letter to General Lincoln, " conspires to rivet me to 
retirement At my time of life, and under my circumstances, nothing 
in this world can ever draw me from it, unless it be a conviction that the 
partiality of my countrymen had made my services absolutely necessary, 
joined to a fear that my refusal might induce a belief that I preferred the 
conservation of my own reputation and private ease to the good ot my 
country After all, if I should conceive myself in a manner constrained 
to accept, I call Heaven to witness that this very act would be the greatest 
sacrifice of my personal feelings and wishes that I have ever been called 
upon to make. It would be to forego repose and domestic enjoyment tor 
trouble, perhaps for public obloquy; for I should consider myself as 
entering upon an unexplored field, enveloped on every side with clouds 

and darkness." . ^ ^,r , • . , • « 

Before the election came on, the expectation of Washington s appoint- 
ment was so universal, that numerous applications were made to him tor 
the offices of government which would be in his gift. Contemptible as 
such applications must always be, Washington condescended to notice 
them with a dignified refusal. To one applicant he wrote as follows : 
" Should it become absolutely necessary for me to occupy the situation 
in which your letter presupposes me, I have determined to go into it 
perfectly free from all engagements of every nature whatsoever. A conduct 
in conformity to this resolution would enable me, in balancing the various 
pretensions of different candidates for appointments, to act with a sole 
reference to justice and the public good. This is in substance the answer 
that I have given to all applications (and they are not few) which have 

already been made." , t^ • , j 

The official announcement of his election to the Presidency was made 
to General Washington on the fourteenth of April, 1789^ On the second 
day after receiving this notice, Washington set out for New- York. 1 he 
road was thronged with numbers anxious to gaze upon the hero ol the 
revolution, and the man of the people's choice. Escorts of the niilitia and 
of gentlemen of the highest rank and character attended him frora^ state 
to state and he was every where received with the highest honors. Grny s 
bridcre over the Schuylkill was beautifully decorated for his passage with 
laurels and evergreens. At each end of it splendid arches were erected, 
composed of laurels, and on each side was a laurel shrubbery. As 
Washin^Tton passed the bridge, a boy from above dropped a crown ot 
laurel upon his brows. An immense throng of citizens lined the road 
from the Schuylkill to Philadelphia. Through these he was conducted 



56 WASHINGTON. 

to the city. An eleirant entertainment was there provided, and was 
succeeded in the evening by a display of fireworks. When Washington 
crossed the Delaware and landed on the Jersey shore, he was saluted with 
three cheers by the assembled inhabitants. When he came to the brow 
of the hill on his way to Trenton, he again passed through a triumphal 




arch ornamented with laurels and flowers. On the crown of it was 
displayed, in large characters, "December twenty-sixth, 1776." On the 
sweep of the arch beneath was inscribed, "The Defender of the Mothers 
will also protect the Daughters." On the north side he was met by a 
number of female children, dressed in white, with baskets of flowers on 
their arms and garlands on their heads. In the second row stood the 
young women, and behind them the married ladies, of the vicinity. As 
he passed the arch, the children began to sing the following ode. 

" Welcome, mighty Chief ! once more 

Welcome to this grateful shore. 
Now no mercenary foe 
Aims again tlie fatal blow, 
7\ims at thee the fatal blow. 
Virgins fair, and matrons grave, — 
These thy conquering arm did save, — 
Build for thee triumphal bowers : 
Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers ; 
Strew your hero's way with flowers." 

While singing the last lines, they strewed the flowers in the path of 
then- great deliverer. How different his feelings from those experienced 
a few years before upon the same spot ! Then all was depression and 
sadness — now, all joy and triumph. 

He was rowed across the bay to New- York by thirteen pilots in an 
elegant barge. All the vessels in the harbor hoisted their flags. On his 
landing, he was received and congratulated by the governor of the state 
and oihcers of the corporation. lie was conducted to the house which 
had been prepared for his reception, followed by a procession of militia in 



WASHINGTON 57 

their uniforms, and a large number of citizens. In the evening the houses 
of the inhabitants were brilliantly illuminated. A day was fixed, soon 
after his arrival, for his taking the oath of office. It was in the following 
words : " I do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the office of 
President of the United States ; and will, to the best of my ability, pre- 
serve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States." On 
this occasion he was wholly clothed in garments of American manu- 
facture. 

In the morning, the diffiirent congregations assembled in their 
respective places of worship, and offered up prayers for the President and 
people of the United States. About noon, a procession moved from the 
President's house to Federal Hall. When they came within a short dis- 
tance of the hall, the troops formed a line on both sides of the way, 
through which, accompanied by the Vice-President, Mr. John Adams, 
Washington passed into the senate chamber. Immediately after, with 
the two houses of Congress, he went into a gallery fronting on Broad- 
street, and, before an immense throng of citizens, took the oath prescribed 
by the constitution. It was administered by Mr. Livingston, tlie chan- 
cellor of the state of New-iork. A solemn silence prevailed during the 
ceremony. The chancellor then proclaimed him President of the United 
States. This was answered by the discharge of cannon, and the joyful 
shouts of assembled thousands. The President bowed most respectfully 
to the people, and retired to the senate chamber in the midst of their 
acclamations. 

After delivering an address to Congress and receiving their reply, the 
President attended divine service in their company. In the evening 
there was a very ingenious and brilliant exhibition of fireworks. A 
transparent painting was displayed, in the centre of which was the jxir- 
trait of the President, represented under the image of Fortitude. On his 
right hand was Justice, and on his left Wisdom ; emblematic of the Senate 
and House of Representatives. Thus concluded the ceremonies of the 
first presidential inauguration. 

When Washington commenced his administration, the situation of the 
United States was highly critical. There were no funds in the treasury, 
and large debts were due upon every side. The party in opposition to 
the new constitution was numerous, and several members of this party 
had been elected to seats in the new Congress. Two of the states for a 
while refused to accept the constitution, and were, consequently, beyond 
the reach of its power. The relations of the general government with 
foreign nations were very unsettled. Animosities raged with considera- 
ble violence between the United States and Great Britain. Each charged 
the other with a violation of the late treaty of peace. Difficulties occurred 
with Spain in respect to the navigation of the Mississippi, and the 
boundaries of the states towards the Spanish territories in the South. 
Fifteen hundred of the northern Indians were at open war with the 
United States ; the Creeks in the southwest, who could bring six thou- 
sand fighting men into the field, were at war with Georgia. 

Congress having organized the great departments of government, it 
became the duty of the President to designate proper persons to fill them. 
8 



5S WASHINGTON 

W<ishin!]jton looked round with care and impartiality to fill these posts 
to his own satisfaction, and to that of the people. lie accordinrrly placed 
Colonel llaiHilton at tlie head of the Treasury department ; General 
Knox in the department of War ; Mr. JelTerson at the head of the depart- 
ment of Foreitrn Affairs ; and Mr. Ednunid Randol})h in the office of 
Attorney General. 

It was among the first measures of Washington to make peace with the 
Indians, and commissioners were appointed for this purpose. General 
Lincoln, INlr. (iriffin, and Colonel Humphreys, were deputed to treat with 
the Creek nation. They met M'Gillivray, their chief, with other chiefsj 
and ahout two thousand of the trihe, at Rock Landing, on the Oconee, 
on the frontiers of Georgia. The negotiation was suddenly broken off" 
by M'Gillivray, on the pretence of a dispute about the boundaries, but in 
reality, through the inffuence of the Si)anish government. A second 
mission proved more successfid. A number of the Creek chiefs were 
induced to visit New-York, where a conference was held, and a treaty 
soon established. The attempt to effect a peace with the Indians of the 
Wabash and the Miamies, did not terminate with like success. In con- 
sequence of this, the President, in Septembei^ 1791, despatched General 
Harmer mto the Indian territories, with orders to destroy their settlements 
on the waters of the Scioto and Wabash. This general was defeated, as 
was also Major General St. Clair. The final conquest of these tribes 
was effected in 1 7 1)4, by General Wayne; and soon after that event, 
a peace was concluded between the Indians and the United States. 

By skiHhl and prudent management, all the difficulties with Spain were 
amicably settled ; but much greater difficulties stood in the way of a peace- 
ful adjustment of controversies with Great Britain. In the first years of 
his Presidency, Washington took informal measures to ascertain the views 
of the British cabinet respecting the United States. This business was 
intrusted to Mr. Governeur Morris, who conducted it with great ability, 
but found no disposition to accede to the wishes of our government. In 
two years from that time, the British, of their own accord, sent their first 
Minister to the United States, and the President, in return, nominated Mr. 
Thomas Pinckney as the Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Great 
Britain. 

About this time war commenced between France and Great Britain. 
*rhe correct and mature judgment of Washington immediately decided 
that the proper position of the United States was that of perfect neutrality. 
A strong disposition existed in the people to fiivor the cause of France. 
The benefits that had been conferred upon them by that gallant nation 
during the revolutionary struggle were fresh in their remembrance. A 
feeling still existed of resentment towards Fingland, for the oppression 
which had led to the war, and the miseries that attended it. To compel 
the observance of neutrality, under these circumstances, was a task that 
required all the influence and popularity of Washington. Motions were 
made in Congress for sequestrating debts due to British subjects ; to 
enter into commercial hostility with Great Britain, and even to interdict 
all intercourse with her till she pursued other measures with respect to 
the United States. Every thing threatened immediate war. In this 



WASHINGTON. 59 

slate of affairs, the President, in April, 1794, noniiziated John Jay, Envoy 
Extraordinary to the Court of Great Britain. By thismeasuie an adjust- 
ment of the points in dispute hetvveen tiie two nations was happily effected, 
and the result of the mission was a treaty of peace. 

This was pronounced by Mr. Jay to be the best that was attainable, 
and one which he believed it for the interest of the United States to 
accept. While this treaty was under the consideration of the Senate, a 
copy of it was furnished to the editor of a newspaper, in violation of the 
laws of that body. The publication of this document at once rekindled 
the smothered passions of the people, and meetings were held in all the 
large cities, to pronounce the treaty unworthy of acceptance and to peti- 
tion the President to refuse his signature to so obnoxious an instrument. 
These agitations were naturally the source of much anxiety to Washing- 
ton, but they did not cause him to swerve for a moment from the true 
path of his duty. He regretted that the treaty was so generally unpopular, 
but determined to ratify it, as the only alternative with war. His policy 
was always peace, if it can be preserved with honor. In a letter to 
General Knox, he observes on this subject : " Next to a conscientious 
discharge of my public duties, to carry along with me the approbation of 
my constituents, would be the highest gratification of which my mind is 
susceptible. But the latter being secondary, I cannot make the former 
yield to it, unless some criterion more infallible than partial (if they are 
not party) meetings, can be discovered as the touchstone of public senti- 
ment. If any person on earth could, or the Great Power above would, 
erect the standard of infallibility in political opinions, no being that 
inhabits this terrestrial globe would resort to it with more eagerness than 
myself, so long as I remain a servant of the public. But as I have 
hitherto found no better guide than upright intentions, and close investi- 
gation, I shall adhere to them while I keep the watch." 

Difficult as it was to decide upon the proper policy to be pursued towards 
England, it was even more embarrassing in respect to France. The 
attaclunent to the French interests was much increased by the arrival 
of M. Genet, the first Minister Plenipotentiary from the republic of 
France to the United States. Encouraged by the indications of good 
wishes for the success of the French revolution, this gentleman under- 
took to authorize the fitting and arming of vessels, enlisting men, and 
giving commissions to vessels to cruise and commit hostilities on nations 
with whom the United States were at peace. The British minister 
complained against these proceedings, and the American government 
disapproved of them. Still, however, the people continued enthusiastic 
in the cause of their old allies. At civic festivals, the ensigns of France 
were displayed in union with those of America, the cap of liberty passed 
from head to head, and toasts were given expressive of the fraternity of 
the two nations. To preserve neutrality at such a crisis was a matter 
of much difficulty, but Washington resolved, at every hazard, to adhere to 
the principle that the United States would hold all mankind enemies in 
war, and friends in peace. He at length decided to request the recall 
of M. Genet, and soon had the satisfaction to learn that the course this 
gentleman had pursued was entirely disapproved by his own government 



,60 WASHINGTON. 

The successors of Geuol followed in his steps, but with less violence. 
With a view to reconcile all dilhculfies, Washinirton appointed General 
Pinckney, Minister Plenipotentiary to the French republic From this 
mission iie anticipated an adjustment of all points in dispute, but the 
Directory announced their haughty determination not to receive another 
Minister from the United States, until after a redress of gricvuiccs 
which the French republic had a right to expect from the Aimrican 
government. 

Before the result of the mission was known, Washington had ceased 
to be President of the United States. Having served through eight 
years of doubt and dithculty, and having brought all the aftairs of groat 
public interest into a fair train for equitable adjustment, and being far 
advanced in life, he announced his intention of di'clining a re-election 
in full time for the people to fix uinni a successor. His resignation was 
announced to the people of the United States, in an address which every 
true lover of his country nuist be willing to adopt as his political text 
book. The following passages speak with peculiar force to us at all 
periods of political and sectional excitement: 

" The unity of government, wliich constitutes you one people, is also 
now dear to you. It is justly so, tor it is the main pillar in the edifice 
of your real independence; the support of your tranipiillity at home, 
your peace abroad; of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty 
which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, tb.at from 
diflereut causes and from diflferent quarters much pains will be taken, 
many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this 
truth ; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the 
batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and 
actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infmite 
moment, that you should properly estimate the inuuense value of your 
national union, to your collective and individual happiness; that you 
should cherish a cordial, habitual, and iunuovable attachment to it, 
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium of your 
political safety and prosperity : watching for its preservation with jealous 
anxiety ; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that 
it can in any event be abandoned ; ami indignantlv frowniuix upon the 
first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country 
from the rest, or to enfeebie the sacred ties which now link together the 
various parts. 

'* For this you have every inducement of syuqiathy and interest. 
Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that countrv has a right 
to concentrate your affections. The name of Amf.ric.\n, which belongs 
to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of 
patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. 
With slight shades of ditierence, you have the same religion, manners, 
habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought 
and triumphed together ; the inde]iendence and lil>erty you possess, are 
the work of joint councils, and joint etlbrts — of common danirers, sutVer- 
ings, and successes." ******'< ^o the eHicacy and i)er- 
manency of your union, a government for the whole is indispensable 



WASHINGTON. f>I 

No alliancos, however strict, between tlie parts, can be an adeqiiate 
substitute ; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruf>- 
tions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of" this 
momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the 
adoption of a constitution of government, better calculated than your 
former, for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of 
your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own 
choice, uninfluenced and unawed ; adopted upon full investigation and 
mature deliberation: completely free in its principles; in the distribution 
of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself 
a provision for its own amendments, has a just claim tx) your confidence 
and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, 
acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental 
maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right 
of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. 
But the constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an 
explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory 
upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to 
establish a government, presupposes the duty of every individual to o^jey 
the established government." * » * * 

" Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration I am 
unconscious of intentional error ; lam nevertheless too sensible of my 
defects, not to think it probable tliat I may have committed many errors. 
Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or 
mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me 
the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence ; 
and that after forty-five years of my life^ dedicated to its .service, with an 
upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to 
oblivion, as rnyself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 

'* Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by 
that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it 
the native .soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations ; I 
anticipate with pleasing e.xpectation that retreat, in which I promi.se 
myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in 
the rnidst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under 
a free government — the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy 
reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 

" United States, September 17, 1790." 

This valedictory address was received in every part of the Union with 
the most unbounded admiration. Shortly after its promulgation, the 
President met the National Legislature in the senate chamber for the last 
time. His address on the occasion touched upon the most important topics 
that were then in agitation. In the course of it he recommended the 
establishment of national v.orks for rnanufiicturing irnplementsof defence ; 
of an institution for the improvement of agriculture; and pointed out the 
advantages of a military academy, of a national university; and the 
necessity of augmenting the salaries of the officers of the United States. 
He concluded in the following words : • 

" The situation in which 1 now stand, for tlie last tune, in the midst of 



62 WASHINGTON. 

the representatives of the people of the United States, naturally recalls 
the period when the administration of the present form of government 
commenced ; and I cannot omit the occasion to congratulate you and my 
country on the success of the experiment, nor to repeat my fervent suppli- 
cations to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and Sovereign Arbiter of 
nations, that his providential care may still be extended to the United 
States ; that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved ; 
and that the government which they have instituted for the protection of 
their liberties may be perpetual." 

On the day preceding the termination of his office, in a letter to General 
Knox, he compared himself to a weary traveller who sees a resting place, 
and is bending his body thereon. " Although the prospect of retirement 
is most grateful to my soul, and I have not a wish to mix again in the 
great world, or to partake in its politics, yet I am not without regret at 
parting with (perhaps never more to meet) the few intimates whom I love 
Among these, be assured, you are one." 

The numerous calumnies which assailed him never but once drew forth 
his public notice. A volume had been published by the British, in the 
year 1776, consisting of letters which they attributed to General Wash- 
ington. It was the object of this publication to produce impressions 
unfavorable to the integrity and character of the commander-in-chief. 
When the first edition of this forgery had been forgotten, it was repub- 
lished, during his Presidency, by some citizens who differed from him in 
politics. On the morning of the last day of his office, Washington 
addressed a letter to the Secretary of State, in which he enumerated the 
facts and dates connected with the forgery, and declared that he had 
hitherto thought it unnecessary to take a formal notice of the imposition 
In this letter he solemnly declared that the correspondence was entirely a 
base forgery, and that he never saw or heard of it till it appeared in print. 
He requested that his letter upon the subject should be deposited in the 
office of the department of state, to be a testimony of the truth to the 
present generation and to posterity. 

The time had now come when his own official power was to cease, and 
that of his successor, John Adams, was to commence. The old and new 
Presidents walked together to the house of representatives, where the oath 
of office was administered. Mr. Adams concluded his address upon the 
occasion, by an impressive allusion to his predecessor, in observing, that 
though about to retire, " his name may still be a rampart, and the 
knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of 
his country." Washington rejoiced that the way was open for his return 
to the happiness of domestic and private life. After paying his respects 
to the new President, he immediately set out for Mount Vernon. He was 
desirous of travelling privately, but it was impossible. Wherever he 
passed, crowds came out to meet him and testify their respect for him. 
In his retirement he resumed his agricultural pursuits; and, in the society 
of his private friends, looked for a quiet ending to an active and anxious 
life. He still, however, continued interested in public affairs, and heard, 
with regret, the insults offered to the United States by the Frouch 
Directory. These injuries at length obliged our government lo adopt 



WASHINGTON. 63 

vigorous measures. Congress authorized the formation of a regular army^ 
and all eyes were turned upon Washington as its commander. 

President Adams nominated Washington to the chief command of the 
armies of the United States, with the rank of lieutenant general. To the 
letter, sent with the commission to Mount Vernon, Washington replied in 
a letter which concluded as follows ; " Feeling how incumbent it is upon 
every person of every description to contribute at all times to his country's 
welfare, and especially in a moment like the present, when every thing 
we hold dear and sacred is so seriously threatened, I have finally deter- 
mined to accept the commission of commander-in-chief of the armies of 
the United States ; with the reserve only, that I shall not be called into 
the field until the army is in a situation to require my presence, or it 
becomes indispensable by the urgency of circumstances. In making this 
reservation, I beg it to be understood that I do not mean to withhold any 
assistance to arrange and organize the arra^y, which you may think I can 
afford. I take the liberty, also, to mention, that I must decline having 
my acceptance considered as drawmg after it any immediate charge upon 
the public ; or that I can receive any emoluments annexed to the ap- 
pointment, before entering into a situation to incur expense." 

After the receipt of this appointment, Washington divided his time 
between agricultural pursuits and the organization of the army. He 
always thought an actual invasion of the country very improbable, but 
he made arrangements to repel it at the water's edge. No sooner had 
these warlike preparations been made, than France signified her desire 
for a peaceful accommodation. Mr. Adams immediately sent three envoys 
extraordinary to negotiate with the French republic. On repairing to 
France, they found the Directory overthrown, and the government in the 
hands of Bonaparte. With him negotiations were immediately com- 
menced, and terminated in a peaceful arrangement of all difficulties. 
Washington, however, did not live to participate in the general joy which 
this event occasioned. 

On the twelfth of December, 1799, Washington rode out in the morn- 
ing to his farms. The weather soon became very cold, and there was an 
alternate fall of rain, hail, and snow. He did not return till past three, 
when he went to dinner without changing his dress. In the evening he 
appeared as well as usual. On the next day, there was a heavy fall of 
snow, which prevented him from riding out as usual. He had taken 
cold from his exposure the day before, and complained of having a sore 
throat. His hoarseness increased towards evening, but he took no 
remedy for it, observmg, as he would never take any thing to carry off a 
cold, " Let it go as it came." On Saturday morning he was very seri- 
ously unwell, and a physician was sent for to bleed him. Finding that 
no relief was obtained from bleeding, and that he was entirely unable to 
swallow any thing, his attendants bathed his throat externally with sal 
volatile. A piece of flannel was then put round his neck, and his feet 
were soaked in warm water. It was impossible to procure any relief. 
Several physicians were immediately sent for, and various remedies 
resorted to without effect. Between five and six o'clock in the afternoon, 
his physicians came to his bedside, and Dr. Craik asked him if he would 



64 WASHINGTON. 

sit up ill the bed. Ho held out his hands, and was raised up, when he 
said — "I feel myself going; you had better not take any more trouble 
about me, but let me go off quietly ; I cannot last long." They found 
what h:id been done was without effect ; he laid down again, and all 
except Dr. Craik retired. He then said to him, " Doctor, I die hard, 
but I am not afraid to go; I believed, from my first attack, I should not 
survive it ; my breath cannot last long." The doctor pressed his hand, 
but could not utter a word ; he retired from the bedside, and sat by the 
fire, absorbed in grief 

About ten o'clock he made several attempts to speak before he could 
effect it. He at length said, " I am just going. Have me decently 
buried ; and do not let my body be put in the vault in less than two 
days after I am dead." His attending physician bowed assent. He 
looked at him again and said, " Do you understand me ?" The reply 
was, " Yes, sir." Washington answered, " 'Tis well." About ten 
minutes before he expired, his breathing became much easier, lie lay 
^quietly, and he withdrew his hand from the physician to feel his own 
pulse. His hand fell from the wrist. Dr. Craik placed his hands over 
his eyes, and he expired without a struggle or a sigh. While the 
physicrans and attendants were standing fi.xed in silent grief, Mrs. 
Washington asked, in a firm and collected voice, " Is he gone V 

When intelligence of the death of Washington reached Congress, they 
immediately adjourned until the next day. Mr. John Marshall, since 
chief justice of the United States, then delivered a short and impressive 
speech to the house of representatives ; and the senate addressed a letter 
to the President. To this letter Mr. Adams returned an answer, which 
concluded in the following words : " The life of our Washington cannot 
suffer by a comparison with those of other countries who have been most 
celebrated and exalted by fame. The attributes and decorations of 
royalty could only have served to eclipse the majesty of those virtues 
which made him, from being a modest citizen, a more resplendent 
luminary. Misfortune, had he lived, could hereafter have sullied his 
glory only with those superficial minds who, believing that character and 
actions are marked by success alone, rarely deserve to enjoy it. 

" Malice could never blast his honor, and envy made him a singular 
exception to her universal rule. For himself, he had lived long enough 
to life and to glory ; for his fellow-citizens, if their prayers could have 
been answered, he would have been immortal ; for me, his departure is 
at a most unfortunate moment. Trusting, however, in the wise and 
righteous dominion of Providence over the passions of men and the results 
of their actions, as well as over their lives, nothing remains for me but 
humble resignation. 

" His example is now complete and it will teach wisdom and virtue 
to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in 
future generations, as long as our history shall be read. If a Trajan 
found a Pliny, a Marcus Aurelius can never want biographers, eulogists, 
or historians." 

Congress passed a series of resolutions, in which it was determined 
that a marble monument should be erected by the United States, at the 



WASHINGTON. 65 

capitol of the city of Washinaton, to commemorate the great events of 
the military and political life of the late President. It was also deter- 
mined that there should he a funeral oration and procession, and that it 
should be recommended to the people of the United States to wear crape 
on their left arm, as mourning, for thirty days. When the resolution of 
Congress that she should be requested to permit the remains of her 
husband to be deposited under a marble monument, to be erected at the 
capitol, was communicated to Mrs. Washington, she replied in the 
following language : " Taught by the great example which I have so 
long had before me, never to oppose my private wishes to the public will. 
I must consent to the request made by Congress, which you have had 
the goodness to transmit to me ; and in doing this, I need not, I cannot say, 
what a sacrifice of individual feeling I make to a sense of public duty." 

Information of the death of Washington was received in every part 
of the states with expressions of regret, and called forth sentiments of the 
highest veneration for his memory. Legislative bodies, civil corporations, 
colleges, and all other societies of importance formed funeral processions 
and attended upon prayers, eulogies and orations in his honor. The 
resolution of Congress respecting the monument has not been carried 
into execution. An appropriation for this purpose was opposed, as an 
improper use of the public money; the reason assigned for objecting to 
the measure was that the only fit monument of Washington was in the 
gratitude and veneration of his countrymen. 

It has been difficult to interrupt the narrative of public and important 
matters, by the introduction of those apparently unimportant anecdotes, 
which sometimes, more than any thing else, make us familiar with the 
character of a great man. Those which follow have been collected from 
a variety of sources, and we believe to be generally well authenticated. 

When General Washington had closed his career in the French and 
Indian war, and had become a member of the House of Burgesses, the 
Speaker, Robinson, was directed, by a vote of the house, to return their 
thanks to that gentleman, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished 
military services which he had rendered to his country. As soon as 
Washington took his seat, Mr. Robinson, in obedience to his order, and 
following the impulse of his own generous and grateful heart, discharged 
this duty with great dignity ; but with such warmth of coloring and 
strength of expression, as entirely confounded the young hero. He rose 
to express his acknowledgments for the honor ; but such was his trepida- 
tion and confusion, that he could not give distinct utterance to a single 
syllable. He blushed, stammered, and trembled, for a second ; when 
the Speaker relieved him, by a stroke of address, that would have done 
honor to Louis XIV. in his proudest and happiest moments. " Sit 
down, Mr. Washington," said he, with a conciliating smile ; " your 
modesty is equal to your valor; and that surpasses the power of any 
language that I possess." 

In the town of , in Connecticut, where the roads were 

extremely rough, Washington was overtaken by night, on Saturday, not 
being able to reach the village where he designed to rest on the Sabbath. 
Next morning, about sunrise, his coach was harnessed, and he wai" 
9 



66 WASHINGTON. 

proceodijiiT forward to an inn, near the place of worship, which he pro- 
posed to attend. A |)hun man, who was an informing oflicer, came from 
a cottage, and inquired of the coachman whether there was any urgent 
reasons for his travelling on the Lord's day. The General, instead 
of resenting this as an impertinent rudeness, ordered the coachman to 
stop, and with great civility explained the circumstances to the officer, 
couimending him for his fidelity; and assured him that nothing was 
farther from his intention, than to treat with disrespect the laws and 
usages oi' Connecticut, relative to the Sabbath, which met with his mos. 
cordial approbation. 

Washington accomplished the most of his great work with a\y 
parent ease, by a rigid observance of punctuality. It is known that 
whenever he assigned to meet Congress at noon, he never failed to be 
passmg the door of the hall when the clock struck twelve. His dining 
hour was four, when he always sat down to his table, only allowing five 
minutes for the variation of timepieces, whether his guests were present 
or not. It was frequently the case with new members of Congress, that 
they did not arrive until dinner was nearly half over, and he would re- 
mark, "Gentlemen, we are punctual here; my cook never asks whether 
the company has arrived, but whether the hour has." When he visited 
Boston in 1789, he appointed eight o'clock in the morning as the hour 
when he sliould set out for Salem, and while the Old South clock was 
striking eight, he was crossing his saddle. The company of cavalry 
which volunteered to escort him, not anticipating this strict punctuality, 
were parading in Tremont-street, after his departure ; and it \vas not 
until the President liad reached Ch.arles river bridge, where he stopped 
a few minutes, that the troop of horse overtook him. On passing the 

corps, the President with perfect good nature said : — " Major , I 

thought you had been too long in my family, not to know when it was 
eight o'clock." 

The following anecdote was related by Captain Pease, the father of 
the stage establishment in the United States. He had purchased a 
beautiful pair of horses, which he wished to dispose of to the President, 
who he knew was an excellent judge of horses. The President appointed 
five o'clock in the morning to examine them at his stable. The captain 
thinking the hour was too early for so great a man to be stirring, did 
not arrive with the horses until a quarter after five, when he was told by 
the groom that the President was there at five, and was then fulfilling 
other engagements. Pease was much mortified, and called on Major 
Jackson, the Secretary, to apologize for his delay, and to request the 
President to appoint some new time ; and he added that he found the 
President's time was wholly preoccupied for several days, and that he 
was compelled to stay a v/(;('k in Philadelphia before the examination 
took place, merely for delaying the first quarter of an hour. 

Major Ferguson, who commanded a rifle corps a day or two previous 
to the battle of Brandywine, was the hero of a very singular accident, 
which he thus describes in a letter to a friend. It illustrates, in a most 
forcible manner, the overruling hand of Providence in directing the 
operations of a man's mind, in moments when he is least aware of it. 



WASHINGTON. 67 

" We had not lain long, when a rebel officer, remarkable by a hussar 
dress, pressed toward our army, within a hundred yards of my right 
flank, not perceiving us. He was followed by another, dressed in dark 
green and blue, mounted on a bay horse, with a remarkable high cocked 
hat. I ordered three good shots to steal near and fire at them ; but the, 
idea disgusting me, I recalled the order. The hussar, in returning, 
made a circuit, but the other passed within a hundred yards of us ; upon 
which, I advanced from the woods towards him. Upon my calling, he 
stopped ; but after looking at me, proceeded. I again drew his attention, 
and made signs to him to stop, levelling my piece at him ; but he slowly 
cantered away. By quick firing, I could have lodged half a dozen balls 
in, or about him, before he was out of my reach. I had only to deter- 
mine ; but it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending 
individual, who was very coolly acquitting himself of his duty ; so I let 
him alone. 

" The next day the surgeon told me that the wounded rebel officers 
informed him that General Washington was all the morning with the 
light troops, and only .attended by a French officer in a hussar dress, he 
himself dressed and mounted as I have above described. I am not 
sorry that I did not know who it was at the time." 

It is now settled as a fact beyond dispute, that General Gates was 
connected with General Lee in a conspiracy to supersede the illustrious 
Washington. The commander-in-chief was well aware of the means 
they used to deprive him of the affiictions of the army, and the confidence 
of the people. How he sought revenge, is shown in the following 
anecdote : 

" I found General Gates traversing the apartment under the influence 
of high excitement. His agitation was excessive — every feature of his 
countenance, every gesture, betrayed it. He had been charged with 
unskilful management at the battle of Camden, and he had just received 
official despatches, informing him that the command was transferred to 
General Greene. His countenance betrayed no resentment, however ; it 
was sensibility alone that caused his emotion. He held an open letter in 
his hand, which he often raised to his lips, and kissed with devotion, 
while he repeatedly exclaimed — ' Great man ! Noble, generous proce- 
dure!' When the tumult of his mind had a little subsided, with strong 
expressions of feeling, he said, 'I have this day received a communica- 
tion from the commander-in-chief, which has conveyed more consolation 
to my bosom, more ineffable delight to my heart, than I believed it 
possible for it ever to have felt again. With affectionate tenderness, he 
sympathizes with me in my domestic misfortunes, and condoles with me 
on the loss I have sustained in the recent death of my only son ; and 
then, with peculiar delicacy, lamenting my misfortune in buttle, assures 
me that his confidence in my zeal and capacity is so little impaired, that 
the command of the right wing of the army will be bestowed on me, as 
soon as I can make it convenient to join him.' " 

Washington entertained a very deep respect and friendship for 
General Knox, and always kept him near his own person. After the 
defeat of Gates' army, at Camden, General Greene was offered the arduous 



68 WASHINGTON. 

command of the southern department. The qiiaker General, with his 
usual modesty, replied, " Knox is the man for that difficult undertaking; 
oil obstacles vanish before him ; his resources are infinite." " True," 
answered Washington, " and therefore I cannot part with him." 

While the American army, under the command of Washington, lay 
encamped in the environs of Morristown, New-Jersey, it occurred that 
the service of the communion (there observed semi-annually only,) was 
to be administered in the Presbyterian Church of the village. In a 
morning of the previous week, the General, after his accustomed inspec- 
tion of the camp, visited the house of the Rev. Dr. Jones, then pastor 
of that church, and after the usual preliminaries, thus accosted him. 
" Doctor, I understand that the Lord's supper is to be celebrated with you 
next Sunday; I would learn if it accords with the canons of your church 
to admit communicants of another denomination V The Doctor rejoined 
— " Most certainly : ours is not the Presbyterian table. General, but the 
Lord's table ; and we hence give the Lord's invitation to all his followers, 
of whatever name." The General replied, " I am glad of it : that is as it 
ought to be ; but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I would 
ascertain it from yourself, as I propose to join with you on that occasion. 
Though a member of the Church of England, I have no exclusive 
partialities." The Doctor reassured him of a cordial welcome, and the 
General was found seated with the communicants the next Sabbath. 

Shortly after his election to the Presidency of the United States, 
General Washington, his lady, .and secretary. Major Jackson, on their 
way from the seat of government to Mount Vernon, stopped for the night 
at Chester. The President had scarcely arrived, and expressed a wish 
not to be disturbed, when a message was brought that an old gentleman, 
once honored with his favor and protection, requested permission to pay 
his respects, adding, that his name was Lydick. " Let him enter, by all 
means," said the President ; " he is the man, Major Jackson, who, at the 
hazard of his life, entered New- York, while in possession of the enemy, 
for the purpose of distributing among the German troops, proclamations, 
inviting them to our standard ; and who, afterwards, superintended, for 
many years, our baking establishment with zeal and diligence." As the 
old man entered, the General, taking him kindly by the hand, said — " My 
worthy friend, I am rejoiced to see you, and truly happy to express my 
thanks to a man to whom I feel myself under great obligation. You ever 
served your country with exemplary fidelity, and her warmest gratitude 
is richly your due " " Such praise from my beloved commander," 
replied Lydick, " is high reward. I shall now go to my grave in peace, 
since it has been my happiness once again to meet and pay my duty to 
your Excellency." 

The person of Washington was unusually tall, erect, and well propor- 
tioned. His muscular strength was very great. His features were of a 
beautiful symmetry. He commanded respect without any appearance 
of haughtiness, and n'as ever serious without being sullen or dull. " It is 
natural," says Dr. Tbacher, " to view with keen attention the countenance 
of an illustrious man, with a secret hope of discovering in his features 
iiorae peculiar traces of the excellence which distinguishes him from and 



WASHINGTON. 



elevates him above his fellow mortals. These expectations are realized, 
in a peculiar manner, in viewing the person of General Washington. His 




tail and noble stature and just proportions, his fine, cheerful, open coun- 
tenance, simple and modest deportment, are all calculated to interest 
every beholder in his favor, and to command veneration and respect. He 
is feared even when silent, and beloved even while we are unconscious 
of the motive." 

Of the character of Washington it is impossible to speak but in terms 
of the highest respect and admiration. The more that we see of 
the operations of our government, and the more deeply we feel the 
difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest, the more highly 
we must estimate the force of the talent and character which have been 
able to challenge the reverence of all parties, and principles^ and nations, 
and to win a fame as extended as the limit of the globe, and which we 
cannot but believe will be as lasting as the existence of man. 



JOHN ADAMS. 



John Adams was born at duincy, in Massachusetts, on the nineteenth 
day of October, (Old Style,) 1735, of John and Susannah Boylston Adams. 
He was the fourth in descent from Henry Adams, who, to quote the 
inscription upon his tombstone, " took his flight from the dragon perse- 
cution, in Devonshire, England, and alighted with eight sons near Mount 
Wollaston." He early gave proof of superior abilities, and he enjoyed 
the best advantages for their cultivation, which the country afforded. He 
entered Harvard College in 1751, and was graduated in four years after- 
wards. His course in the University was creditable to his character and 
talents, and after completing it, he, like most of the distinguished men in 
New-England, from the earliest times to the present day, engaged for a 
time in the employment of teaching. He instructed in the grammar 
school in Worcester, and at the same time studied law with Mr. Putnam, 
a lawyer of considerable eminence in that town. In 1758, he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and commenced tlie practice of his profession in Brain- 
tree, his native town, and his success was soon made certain by the 
ability with which he argued a criminal cause before a jury in Plymouth. 
In 1759, he was admitted into the bar of Suffolk, at the request of Jeremy 
Gridley, the Attorney General of the province, and of the highest emi- 
nence in his profession. Mr. Gridley was the active friend and patron 
of Adams, and had also been the instructer in law of the celebrated 
James Otis ; and, proud of these highly promising young men, he was 
wont to say, " that he had raised two young eagles, who were, one day or 
other, to peck out his eyes." In compliance with his advice, Mr. Adams 
applied himself diligently to the study of the civil law, which was not much 
known to the lawyers at that time. In 17G1, he was admitted to the de- 
gree of barrister of law, and succeeded, by the death of his father, to a small 
landed estate. The same year was made memorable by an event, preg- 
nant with the most important results to the country, and which awakened 
the most enthusiastic flame of patriotism in the breast of Mr. Adams. 

For many years the feelings between the mother country and the 
colonies, particularly tliat of Massachusetts, had been any other than 
those of good-will and mutual confidence. The Parliament viewed with 
a jealous eye their rapidly increasing wealth and population, and began 
to interfere with their external and internal relations, in a manner that 
roused the old puritan .spirit of resi.stance. The colonies regarded them- 
selves as under the immediate protection and patronage of the King, and 
denied the power of the Parliament, a body in which tliey were not repre- 
sented, to violate their charters, or to impos*?- any restraints upon the 
employment of their industry and capital. These feelings of ill-will, 



72 ADAMS. 

.hough apparent to all sagacious observers, did not lead to any overt ac. 
of resistance till 1761. 

An order of council had been passed in Great Britain, ordering the 
officers of the customs in Massachusetts Bay, to execute the acts of 
trade. The custom-house officers, in order that they might fully perform 
this duty, petitioned the Supreme Court, to grant "writs of assistance,' 
according to the usage of the Court of Exchequer in England, which 
authorized those who held them to enter houses, ^c. in search of goods 
liable to duty. This created a great excitement, and the right to grant 
them was strenuously denied. Its legality was made the subject of a trial. 
Mr. Gridley, the King's Attorney General, argued in support of the power 
of the court, and he was opposed by the celebrated James Otis, a man 
of splendid abilities and ardent patriotism, at that time, in the prime 
of life, and the full blaze of his reputation. His speech was a magni- 
ficent display of eloquence, argument, and learning. And Mr. Adams, 
who heard it, has recorded his impressions of it, in his glowing and 
peculiar language. "Otis," says he, "was a flame of fire! With a 
promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary 
of historical events and dales, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic 
glance of his ej'es into futurity, a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, 
he hurried away all before him. American Independence was then and 
there born ; every man of an immensely crowded audience, appeared to 
me to go away ready to take up arms against writs of assistance." On 
another occasion, he says of the same speech, " that James Otis, then 
and there, breathed into this nation the breath of life." 

The court decided against the legality of the writs, but it is generally 
supposed that they were issued clandestinely. 

Jn 1764, Mr. Adams married Abigail, daughter of the Rev. William 
Smith, of Weymouth, and few men have been so fortunate in their 
choice, or so happy in their domestic relations. Mrs. Adams was a 
woman of great personal beauty, and strength of character, with a highly 
cultivated mind, and the most feminine sweetness of disposition. She 
sympathized witli her husband, in his patriotic enthusiasm, was the con- 
fidant of all his pians and feelings ; cheered and supported him in his 
hours of trial, and submitted, witliout repining, to the long separations, 
which his di.ty to the public rendered necessary. 

In 1765, the British ntinistry, with what now seems a providential 
mfatuation, passed the memorable stamp act, by which stamped paper 
was required to be used in all legal instruments, and imposing a tax upon 
it, by whicn a large amount was to be raised in the colonies. A flame 
of opposition blazed out immediately throughout the whole country. The 
right of Parliament to lay the tax was denied, pamphlets were written 
against it, the newspapers contested it, town-meetings were held, and the 
most spirited resolutions passed. The men who took the lead in the 
opposition, were Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and James Otis, who was 
powerfully supported by Mr. Adams. These two last gentlemen, together 
with Mr. Gridley, appeared before the Governor and Council, and argued 
that the courts should administer justice without stamped paper. 

About this time he gave to the world, his first printed performance. 



ADAMS. 73 

his " Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law." The object of this 
work, was to show the absurdity and tyranny of the ujonarchical and 
aristocratic institutions of the old world, and, in particular, the mischie- 
vous principles of the canon and feudal law. He contends that the 
New-England settlers had been induced to cross the ocean to escape the 
tyratiny of church and state, and that they had laid the foundations 
of their government in reason, justice, and a respect for the rights of 
humanity. It exhorts his countrymen not to fall short of these noble 
sentiments of their fathers, and to sacrifice any thing rather than liberty 
and honor. " The whole tone of the essay is so raised and bold," says 
Mr. Wirt, "that it sounds like a trumpet-call to arms." It was much 
read and admired in America and Europe, and was pronounced by Mr 
Hollis, of London, to be the best American work which had crossed the 
Atlantic. 

In 176C, he removed his residence to Boston, to reap the more abun- 
dant harvest of professional honor and emolument which the capital 
afforded, but still continued his attendance on the neighboring circuits. 
The stamp act was opposed throughout the colonies, with such spirit and 
unanimity, that on the tenth of March, 1766, it was repealed ; but still 
the British cabinet, notwithstanding the eloquent remonstrances of Burke 
and Chatham, would not give up the idea of raising a revenue in Ame- 
rica, and the repeal act was accompanied by a declaratory act, in which 
it was asserted, "that the Parliament had, and of right ought to have, 
power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." In the next year, 
a law was passed, laying duties in the British colonies, on glass, paper, 
pamters' colors, and tea. These proceedings, coupled with the declara- 
tion above-mentioned, raised a new storm in the colonies, who were 
determined to resist the tax, and to extort from the British ministry the 
acknowledgment that they had no right to tax them. The town of Bos- 
ton had, also, its peculiar sources of irritation and dislike to the mother 
country. It had always been considered as taking the lead in the 
opposition, and in order to overawe the inhabitants, some armed vessels 
were stationed in the harbor, and two regiments of foot were quartered 
in the town. 

During these troubled times, Mr. Adams was zealous and unremitting 
in asserting the rights of his country. The value and importance of his 
services in behalf of liberty, may be estimated by the fact that the crown 
officers thought him worthy of being purchased by a high price. They 
offered to him the place of Advocate General in the Court of Admiralty, a 
very lucrative office at that time, and a steppingstone to still higher ones. 
But as he could not accept it, without abandoning his friends and princi- 
ples, he declined it, as he himself says, " decidedly and peremptorily, 
though respectfully." 

In 1769, he was the chairman of a committee, consisting of himself, 
Richard Dana and Joseph Warren, chosen by the citizens of Boston, to 
prepare instructions to their representatives to resist the encroachments 
of the British government. These were conceived in a bold tone of 
spirited remonstrance, and particularly urged the removal of the troops 
from Boston. 

10 



74 



ADAMS. 



But tlie soldiers still continued in town, and this crave rise to an inci- 
dent, which was highly honorabfc to the professional firmness and mora 
courage ot Mr. Adams. The inhabitants looked with an evil eye upon 
the soldiers. Squabbles were perpetually taking place between them 
and on the fifth of March, 1770, a bloody affray occurred in State-street' 
in which five citizens were killed and many others wounded This is 
commonly called the Boston massacre, about which it is almost impossible 
to learn the exact truth, even at this day, or to settle the amount of blame 
which ought to be attached to both parties. The town was thrown into 
a most violent ferment, as may well be supposed, and nothing but the 
most active exertions of the leading men prevented the popuTace from 
nsing en 7r,assc, and putting to death every man who wore a red coat 
1 he inhabitants^ assembled in town-meeting and chose a committee, of 
wliicli Samuel Adams was the chairman, to present a remonstrance to 
the Governor, with a demand that the regular troops should be removed 
fronithetovvn. The state of popular feeling is well described in the 
words ofJohn Adams himself. "Not only the immense assemblies of 
the people from day to day, but military arrangements from night to ni-rht 
were necessary to keep the people and the soldiers from getfin<r tocretlier 
by the ears The life of a red coat would not have been ^afe in\ny%trm 
or corner of the town. Nor would the lives of the inhabitants been much 
more secure. The whole militia of the city was in requisition, and mili- 
tary watches and guards were every where placed. We were all upon a 
Jevel, no man was exempted; our military officers were our only sune- 
nors. i had the honor to be summoned in my turn, and attended at the 
state-house with my musket and bayonet, my broadsword and cartridge. 
box, under the command of the famous Paddock. I know you will laifah 
at my military figure, but I believe there was not a more obedient soldier 
in the regiment, nor one more impartial between the people and the 
regulars^ In this character, I was upon duty all night upon my turn." 

1 he Governor did not attempt to stem the current of popular feelincr 
but tlie soldiers were sent to the castle, and Captain Preston the com' 
inandmg officer, and some of the privates, were arrested and held for 
I ^ l^'- '""^ V^ ^PP'''^'^ *°' t« be their coun.sel. This reouest 
placed hnn man embarrassing situation. The people were clamorous 
agamst the crnnmals, and demanded their blood with one voice ; -/mi Z 
man who appeared m their defence, was in danger of losing his popularity 
and influence with them; and Mr. Adams, who had bec°i so zealous a 
champion in the popular cause, ran the risk of being accused of desening 
h.s former principles, and becoming the advocate of tyranny. But 1 ej 
considerations had no weight with him. His life was ordered in Zdt 
ence to duty and hi, conduct was never influenced by the hone of 
gaining, or the fear of losing, the favor of the people. He undertook the 
defence without any hesitation, and Josiah Q^incy, Jr., another cmncnt 
patriot was associated with him. The result of the' tria was uU^ 
highest degree, honorable to the community. Captain Preston ;' ar 
quitted by a jury, chosen from the exasperated inlfabitants of h town' 

Tofh nr-'Th '• "'' ?''"-' 't r'' S-at ability and eloqu nee ost' 
nothing m their good opinion by their resolute performance of their 



ADAMS. 76 

professional fluty. Such incidents as these show us the exalted 
motives, and the sublime sense of ri^ht and justice, which influenced 
the men of the revolution, and of the dark days that preceded it, 

Mr. Adams was chosen, in the same year, one of the representatives 
in the General Assembly. Tlie session which ensued was signalized 
by an obstinate contest with Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson, as to 
whether the General Court should be held in Cambridge, where 
Governor Barnard had removed it, or in Boston, the usual place. Mr. 
Adams was one of a committee chosen to remonstrate with the acting 
Governor on his changing the place of assembly, to gratify the wishes 
of his Majesty's ministers ; and their eloquent a{)peal to him, probably 
proceeded from his pen. But the Lieutenant (and acting) (Governor 
was determined not to go to Boston, of whose bold and spiiited popu- 
lation, he stood in no little awe. Urged by the necessity of the times, 
the membeis proceeded t(» transact business at Cambridge, protesting, 
however, against the restraint they were under. 

In 1772, the ministers introduced a regulation, by which the salaries 
of the judges were paid in such a manner, as rendered them wholly 
dependent upon, and subservient to, the crown. This excited great 
offence, and gave rise to a controversy in the public papers, between 
William Brattle, the senior member of the council, on one side, and 
Mr, Adams, on the other. Mr, Adams' numbers were learned and 
able, and communicated much useful information to the people. 
These essays were published in the Boston Gazette, of February, 
1773, under his proper signature. 

When the General Court met in January, 1773, Hutchinson, who 
had been appointed Governor, made a very injudicious and violent 
speech to the two houses, on the supremacy of Parliament, and the 
impolicy of resisting it. To their reply, he made an elaborate 
rejoinder, and the sense in which Mr. Adams was held, may be learned 
from the fact, that, though not a member, he was called upon to furnish 
a reply. He produced an eloquent and argumentative dissei'tation, 
remarkable both for the beauty of its style and the cogency of its rea- 
Boning. It was republished by Dr. Franklin, in England, as the ablest 
exposition of colonial aflairs that had appeared. 

Soon after this, he was chosen a member of the Assembly, and nomi 
nated by them on their list of Councillors, but his name was erased by 
Governor Hutchinson, and the same compliment was paid him the 
next year by Governor Gage. 

The act of 17G7, which granted duties in the British colonies on glas.<3, 
paper, painters' coloi-s, and tea. had been repealed as to all the articles 
except tea. and, in consecitience. as.sociat!ons were formed in all the 
colonies, to discourage the use of it. I.,argc sliij)menls of it were made. 



^^ ADAMS. 



c.lm,o„ and rendered an appeal fo ar„,s Telle • '*' "' "'^°"- 

Eed „"S., °: .sre •i'^erc'ss/f '"-^d ^''^^ '" ^•'"'>--- 

Kiiii , uiey beni agents amonw them to asportnin tu ■ 
and to persuade them to the adontion of thl; '^^certam their views, 

these was a plan for a general ron ""^ ^^f'' ^.^" sentiments. Among 

solving them But he found ^it T ^l'' '^^'"^'^^y ^^th a message dis- 

admission. Thf ecrefa^v b^ theT ''^'l' '"^.^'^^ ^^^«^"t«'>^ ••^''"^^d 
of the room, and read T, J^JZ^' ^. ^7^'-"!^'- ^ ^^^^^rs, came to the door 
was the clos'e of the powe of E ^3 u! '^'f ^'^'"f/^e assembly. This 
that moment she was^ to all intents nn """"' JVI<-i«sachusetts. From 

An interesting incident is reT-^ted 1 T'^'^^'t' '" "^dependent state. 
at this time, and whh^ht v ,. I if ' n '""^ happened to Mr. Adams 
Soon after he was Se^a delel't^ i lu«trating the state of his feelings. 
Attorney General, Tabored eSv lo d" ?,^S^''- ?'^'^^ ^^^ Kmg's 
appointment. H^ told hhn <"f hn V / p"'*^' ^''™ ^'^"' accepting the 
system; 1-r power wtir^istib \,fdTo,ldT"i "'' determined on her 
those who shouhJ persevere in onnositl^ be destructive to him and all 

plied to him, " I know Gre^^E n r ^ ."" "^^''^r'' ^'- ^^ams re- 
that very de^ermina "on det' n^mes mel „ ™'"'^ T ^'' 'y^'^^^' ""^ 
constant and uniform in oppo Sn^^,^^^^ jou know I have been 

cast. I have passed the RuWcon S nk ""'''"r''' ^'^" ^'" '' "°^ 
perish with my country is mvZlt n ""/ '''™' ^''^ ""' *^'^' «"r^ive or 
The delea Jps frlm IVT "'>^ ""^'^erable determination." 

took tLlr'sir mrnlr^L^S'd"'^ f'^ ^^^^P^'«" ^^^^^ «-^^o-> 
ongress, the fi rst day of its meeting, September fifth, 

OtLX'xr ^"' '"*"^^^^"»" ^•^^-^^ «f »'- transaction, see Tudor's Life of Jame, 



ADAMS. 77 

1774, in Philadelphia. The proceedings of the first Congress are too 
well known to be minutely detailed. They form one of the noblest 
chapters in the history, not only of our country, but of the world ; and 
they have left to every American citizen a heritage of glory, before which 
all the fabled splendor which tradition has thrown around the origin of 
older nations, fades into insignificance. The public papers issued by 
them drew from Lord Chatham the compliment " that he had studied 
and admired the free states of antiquity, the master-spirits of the world ; 
but that, for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of con- 
clusion, no body of men could stand in preference to this Congress." 
The first session continued eight weeks, during which Mr. Adams was 
in active and constant attendance. He was a member of some of the 
most important committees, such as that which drew up a statement of 
the rights of the colonies, and that which prepared the address to the 
King. 

Mr. Adams and his colleagues, being inhabitants of the colony which 
had been the most oppressed and insulted, and in which the most deter- 
mined spirit of opposition had been roused, were convinced of the entire 
impracticability of any reconciliation, and that it would be necessary to 
throw off the allegiance of the mother country, and to act as an indepen- 
dent nation. But these were by no means the sentiments and feelings of 
the inhabitants generally, and they were highly unpopular among them. 
Mr. Adams, in particular, from his ardent temperament and enthusiastic 
character, was an object of particular suspicion and dislike. He was 
charged not to make public the idea of a dissolution of the connexion, as 
it was as unpopular as the stamp act itself He was even pointed at in 
the streets as the visionary advocate of the most desperate measures. His 
own views, and those of some of his most distinguished colleagues, may 
be learned from an extract from one of his own letters. " When Congress 
had finished their business, as they thought, in the autumn of 1774, I 
had with Mr. Henry, before we took leave of each other, some familiar 
conversation, in which I expressed a full conviction that our resolves, 
declarations of rights, enumeration of wrongs, petitions, remonstrances, 
and addresses, associations, and nonimportation agreements, however 
they might be expected in America, and however necessary to cement 
the union of the colonies, would be but waste water in England. Mr. 
Henry said they might make some impression among the people of 
England, but agreed with me that they would be totally lost upon the 
government. I had but just received a short and hasty letter, written to 
me by Major Joseph Hawley, of Northampton, containing a ' few broken 
hints,' as he called them, of what he thought was proper to be done, and 
concluding with these words, ' After all, we must fight.' This letter 
I read to Mr. Henry, who listened with great attention ; and as soon as I 
had pronounced the words, ' After all, we must fight,' he raised his head, 
and, with an energy and vehemence that I can never forget, broke out 
with ' By God, I am of that man's mind.' I put the letter into his hand, 
and when he had read it he returned it to me, with an equally solemn 
asseveration, that he agreed entirely in opinion with the writer. 

" The other delegates from Virginia returned to their state in full 



78 ADAMS. 

confidence that all our grievances would be redressed. The last words 
that Mr. Richard Henry Lee said to me, when we parted, were, * We 
shall infallibly carry all our points ; you will be completely relieved ; all 
the offensive acts will be repealed ; the army and fleet will be recalled ; 
and Britain will give up her foolish project.' Washington only was in 
doubt. He never spoke in public. In private he joined with those who 
advocated a nonexportation, as well as a nonimportation agreement. 
With both he thought we should prevail ; without either he thought it 
doubtful. Henry was clear in one opinion, Richard Henry Lee in an 
opposite opinion, and Washington doubted between the two." 

The sentiments of Mr. Lee, were those of the great majority of the 
nation. They were strongly attached to the mother country, and believed 
that the feeling was mutual. They felt confident both of her justice and 
generosity. But these fond anticipations were destined not to be realized. 
The ministers of England, at that time, were deficient in high, magnani- 
mous, and statesman-like views, and were resolved to use no arguments 
but those of force. They, as well as the whole people, were ignorant, to a 
ludicrous degree, of the condition, extent, population, geography, and 
resources of the colonies. Even the Prime Minister talks of the " island" 
of Virginia. 

The Congress adjourned in November, and Mr. Adams returned to his 
family. At this time, his literary talents were again called into exertion 
for the service of his country. His friend, Mr. Sewall, the Attorney 
General, had been publishing a series of able essays, under the name of 
Massachusettensis, contending for the supreme authority of the Parliament 
and against the revolutionary spirit of the country. Mr. Adams wrote a 
series of papers, under the name of Novanglus, in defence of the doctrines 
and conduct of the whigs. These are written with strength and ability, 
and are remarkable, as showing the extent of the author's general read- 
ing, and, in particular, his acquaintance with colonial history. This last 
merit, even his adversary was compelled to acknowledge. " Novanglus," 
he says, " strives to hide the inconsistencies of his hypothesis under a 
huge pile of learning." In writing these papers, Mr. Adams was em- 
barrassed with peculiar difiiculties. He was obliged to defend the 
principles of natural liberty and equality, to deny the authority of Parlia 
ment, but, at the same time, to acknowledge the rightfid power of the 
King. To the monarch himself the people were so much attached, that 
even after the battle of Lexington, which, one would think, would have 
severed every tie which bound them to Great Britain, the militia that ha. 
been engaged in actual battle with the royal iorces, were called th( 
" King's troops," and the regular soldiers were termed " Bute's men," ih 
allusion to Lord Bute, who was highly unpopular, and was supposed to 
exercise a pernicious influence over the young King's mind. 

Mr. Adams and his colleagues were reelected members of the Conti- 
nental Congress, John Hancock being chosen in the place of Mr. 
Bowdoin. It assembled in Philadelpliia, on the tenth of May, 1775. In 
the month of April of that year, the first blood of the revolution had been 
shed at Lexington and Concord, and Congress were obliged to take 
measures for active resistance. Still, the minds of men were not ripe for 



ADAMS. 79 

independence, and they clung to the hope that their grievances would be 
redressed. They took up arms in self-defence merely. It was necessary 
to select some one for the post of commander-in-chief of the forces raised, 
and to be raised. A short history of this transaction will afford proof of 
Mr. Adams' disinterested patriotism, and sacrifice of sectional prejudice 
to the common good. 

The only thing like an army at that time in the country, was a hand- 
ful of New-England militia, hastily assembled at Boston, in consequence 
of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. These were under the 
command of General Artemas Ward, whom the New-England delegation 
were desirous of having made commander-in-chief; but Mr. Adams 
urged them to lay aside all local partialities, and appoint Colonel George 
Washington, of Virginia, who had given proof of uncommon military 
talents in the French war. Hi" colleagues were extremely averse to this 
plan. They thought it disrespectful to their own friends, to appoint a 
stranger, who had no higher rank than that of colonel, over the heads of 
generals, at the head of brigades and divisions. Mr. Adams persisted in 
his own views, and in the determmation that Washington should be ap- 
pointed. He was accordingly nominated the next day, by Governor 
Johnson, of Maryland, at the instigation of Mr. Adams, and seconded by 
him, to the great surprise of many of the members, and none more so, 
than of Washington himself, who was present as a member, and who, 
with characteristic modesty, immediately rose and left the house. It is 
needless to remark how honorable this selection was, not only to Mr. 
Adams' patriotism, but to his sagacity. It is impossible to say how large 
a part of the success of any undertaking is to be ascribed to the agency 
of any one individual, but it seems to us, that our revolutionary struggle, 
if it had been successful at all, must have been protracted many years 
longer, and have cost much more blood and treasure, if any other man 
than Wasliington had been at the head of our armies. Soon after the 
appointment of General Washington, Mr. Jefferson took his seat in 
Congress from Virginia, having been cho.sen in the place of Mr. Peyton 
Randolph, who had retired on account of ill health. Between him and 
Mr. Adams, a warm intimacy, arising from congeniality of feeling and 
agreement on the great points which agitated the minds of men, com- 
menced, which continued, with some unfortunate interruptions, as long as 
they lived. 

The Congress assembled again in the spring of 1776. At this time the 
feelings of the people had undergone a material ch;inge. The battle of 
Bunker Hill had been fought, and the British army had evacuated Boston. 
The Parliament had declared the provinces in a state of rebellion, and it 
was voted to raise and equip a force of twenty-eight thousand seamen and 
fifty-five thousand land troops. The indignation of the people was raised 
to the highest pitch, by learning that Lord North had engaged sixteen 
thousand German mercenaries, to assist in subduing them. To cherish 
the hope of an amicable adjustment of their differences, was little short 
of madness. The time hud come for them to draw the sword and tlirow 
away the scabbard ; to assume the erect attitude and bold tone of inde- 
pendence, ^i/ch had been Mr. Adams' opinions from the first com- 



80 ADAMS. 

mencement of the difficukies ; and the time had now come, when it was 
no longer dangerous or inexpedient to express them. Accordingly, on 
the sixth of May, 1776, he moved in Congress a resolution, which was in 
fact a declaration of independence, recommending to the colonies "to 
adopt such a government as would, in the opinion of the representatives 
of tlie people, hest conduce to the happiness and safety of their constitu- 
ents and of America." 

This proposition was adopted on the tenth. On the same day, the 
Massachusetts House of Representatives voted a resollition, that if the 
Congress should think proper to declare independence, they were ready 
to support it with their lives and fortunes. 

Five days afterwards, Mr. Adams reported and advocated a preamble 
to the resolutions already passed, which, after reciting the insults and 
aggressions of the British government, and that they had called in the 
assistance of foreign mercenaries, proceeded in the following terms; 
" Whereas it appears absolutely irreconcilable to reason and good con- 
science, for the people of these colonies now to take the oaths and 
affirmations necessary for the support of any government under the crown 
of Great Britain, and it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of 
authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed, and fill the 
powers of government exerted under the authority of the people of (he 
colonies, for the preservation ofmternal peace, virtue, and good order, ^s 
well as for the defence of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the 
hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies." 

This pieamble was adopted, after an animated discussion. It was 
published for the consideration of the colonies. They all expressed a 
wish for independence; North Carolina being the first, and Pennsylvania 
the last, to make it publicly known. 

It now remamed to issue a formal Declaration of Independence, in the 
name of the United Colonies. Virginia being the leading state, it was 
thought proper that the motion should proceed from oncof her delegation. 
Richard Henry Lee, being chosen by his colleagues, offered, on the 
seventh of June, the glorious and immortal resolution, " that these United 
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that all 
political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
of right ought to be, totally dissolved." This motion was seconded by 
Mr. Adams, and was debated with great warmth till the tenth, when the 
further discussion of it was postponed till the first of July. At the same 
time, it was voted, that a committee be appointed to prepare a draft of 
a declaration, to be submitted to Congress for its consideration. This 
committee was chosen by ballot, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John 
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston ; 
being arranged in order, according to the number of votes which each 
had received. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, being at the head of the 
committee, were requested by the other members to act as a subcom- 
mittee, to prepare the draft ; and Mr. Jefferson, at Mr. Adams' earnest 
request, drew up the paper. 

The declaration was reported to Congress by the committee, on the 



ADAMS. 81 

first day of July. Mr. Lee's original resolution was passed on the second, 
and on the fourth, the Declaration of Independence, after having under 
gone a kw changes, was adopted in the committee of the whole. It was 
not engrossed and signed, however, till the second of August. We omit 
to make any remarks on the Declaration itself, as they more properly 
belong to the life of Jefferson. 

During all the discussions that preceded this important measure, and 
they were long and animated, Mr. Adams took the lead. Mr. Jefferson 
has said, " that tlie great pillar of support to the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of the house, was 
John Adams." On another occasion, he said of him, " He was our 
Colossus on the floor. Not graceful, not elegant, not always fluent in 
his public addresses, he yet came out with a power, both of thought and 
expression, which moved us from our seats." 

The Congress of the Revolution debated with closed doors, and their 
discussions arc preserved only by memory and tradition. The late Go- 
vernor M'Kean, of Pennsylvania, said, on this point, " I do not recollect 
any formal speeches, such as are made in the British Parliament, and our 
late Congress, to have been made in the Revolutionary Congress ; we had 
no time to hear such speeches, little for deliberation ; action was the order 
of the day." 

The eloquence of Mr. Adams was precisely adapted to the state of the 
times. It was manly and energetic, warmed and animated by his ardent 
temperament, and bold, independent character. He has indeed, without 
being conscious of it, drawn the character of his own eloquence : 
" Oratory, as it consists in expressions of the countenance, graces of 
attitude and motion, and intonation of voice, although it is altogether 
superficial and ornamental, will always command admiration ; yet it 
deserves little veneration. Flashes of wit, coruscations of imagination, 
and gay pictures, what are they 1 Strict truth, rapid reason, and pure 
integrity, are the only ingredients in sound oratory. I flatter myself that 
Demosthenes, by his ' action ! action ! action !' meant to express the 
same opinion." 

On the day after the Declaration of Independence was passed, while 
his soul was yet warm with the glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter 
to his wife, which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated by the 
spirit of prophecy. " Yesterday," he says, " the greatest question was 
decided that ever was debated in America ; and greater, perhaps, never 
was or will be decided among men. A resolution .was passed, without 
one dissenting colony, ' that these United States are, and of right ought 
to be, free and independent states.' The day is passed. The fourth of 
July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am 
apt to believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the 
great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of 
deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to 
be solemnized with pomps, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, 
and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this 
time forward for ever. You will think me transported with entliusiasm, 
but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that 
11 



82 ADAMS. 

it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these 
states ; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory. 
I can see that the end is worth more than all the means ; and that poste- 
rity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not." 

On his return to Massachusetts, he was chosen a member of the Coun- 
cil of Massachusetts, which occupied the place formerly held by the 
Governor's Council. He accepted the appointment, and assisted in their 
deliberations, but declined the office of Chief Justice, which they urged 
upon him, since it would interfere with his duties in Congress. 

In August, 1776, the American army on Long Island were attacked 
and defeated by the forces under Lord Howe, who, supposing this a 
favorable moment for negotiation, requested an interview with some of 
the members of Congress. Mr. Adams opposed the plan, as likely to 
produce no favorable result ; but he was overruled, and a committee 
appointed to treat with the British General, consisting of himself, Dr. 
Franklin, and Edward Rutledge. They were received with much polite- 
ness by General Howe, but he was not willing to treat with them as a 
committee of Congress, and they were not willing to be considered in any 
other capacity. " You may view me in any light you please," said Mr. 
Adams, " except in that of a British subject." The only terms on which 
peace was offered, were, that the colonies should return to the allegiance 
and government of Great Britain, and these, the commissioners stated to 
him, were entirely out of the question ; and thus, as Mr. Adams had 
predicted, the negotiation was entirely fruitless. 

During the remainder of the year 177G, and throughout 1777, Mr. 
Adams was assiduous in his attendance upon Congress, and in attention 
to public affairs. He was a member of ninety committees, a greater 
number than any other member, and twice as many as any, except R. H. 
Lee and Samuel Adams. Of these he was the chairman of twenty-five, 
and in particular, of the laborious and important board of war. Fnom 
these arduous duties he was relieved by being appointed, in November, 
1777, a commissioner to France, in the place of Silas Deane, who was 
recalled. The other members were Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee. The 
object of the mission was, to obtain assistance, in arms and money, from 
the French government. 

Mr. Adams accepted the appointment without hesitation, though it 
separated him from his family, and obliged him to cross the ocean in the 
depth of winter, and when it was swarming with ships of the enemy, and 
he knew that he should be treated with the utmost rigor if captured. He 
embarked on board the frigate Boston, in the month of February, 1778, 
from the shores of his native town. An incident occurred on the voyage, 
which proved that Mr. Adams' courage was not exclusively moral. Captain 
Tucker, the commander of the Boston, saw a large English ship, showing 
a tier of guns, and asked Mr. Adams' consent to engage her. This was 
readily granted. Upon hailing her, she answered by a broadside. Mr. 
Adams had been requested to retire to the cockpit ; but Tucker, looking 
forward, observed him among the marines, with a musket in his hands, 
having privately applied to the officer of the marines for a gun, and taken 
his station among them. At this sight Captain Tucker became alarmed ; 



ADAMS. 8S 

and, walking up to the ambassador, desired to know how he came there? 
Upon which the other smiled, gave up his gun, and went immediately 
below. 

The treaty of alliance and commerce with France had been signed, 
before Mr. Adams arrived in Europe; and on the appointment of Dr. 
Franklin as Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr. Adams asked and received 
permission to return home, which he accordingly did, in the summer of 
1779. 

On his return to America, he was chosen a member of the Convention 
which was called to prepare a constitution for the state of Massachusetts. 
He was placed on the subcommittee chosen to draft the plan of the 
constitution ; and much of its character and spirit is due to his exertions. 

Soon after this. Congress determined to send a Minister Plenipotentiary 
to negotiate a peace with Great Britain. Mr. Adams and Mr. Jay, at 
that time President of Congress, were put in nomination, and received an 
equal number of votes. On the next day, it being proposed to send a 
Minister to Spain, Mr. Jay was almost unanimously elected, and Mr. 
Adams received the appointment of Minister to England. He received 
instructions, by which he was to be guided ; among which were, that the 
United States should be treated with as a free and independent state, and 
that the right to the fisheries should be insisted on. His salary was fixed 
at twenty-five hundred pounds sterling. He embarked in the French 
frigate La Sensible, November 17, 1779, and was obliged to land at 
Corunna, in Spain, from which place he travelled over the mountains to 
Paris, where he arrived in February, 1780. He communicated the 
objects of his mission immediately, to Dr. Franklin, the American Envoy 
at Paris, and the Count de Vergennes, the French Prime Minister. The 
latter was very pressing to learn the nature of Mr. Adams' instructions, 
but they were not communicated to him. Mr. Adams soon became con- 
vinced, that a peace with Great Britain on the terms required, was quite 
impracticable, and that it would be needless for him to go to that country. 
The French government, also, were averse to the negotiation. He 
accordingly remained in Paris for some time. In August, 1780, he 
repaired to Holland, and a vote of approbation was passed upon his 
conduct. Congress, upon hearing of the captivity of Mr. Laurens, who 
had gone out as Minister to Holland, appointed Mr. Adams in his place, 
to negotiate a loan ; and in December he was invested with full powers 
to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce with that country. 

Mr. Adams had great difficulties to contend with in Holland. He was 
thrown among capitalists and money brokers, with the details of whose 
business he was unacquainted, and with whom he had often no language 
in common. He was opposed by the whole strength of the British in- 
fluence. The Dutch people were extremely ignorant of the resources 
and wealth of the United States, and of course, their moneyed men were 
unwilling to advance their property, without knowing what security they 
had to depend upon. Mr. Adams commenced the writing of a series of 
papers, in answer to a set of queries proposed to him by Mr. Kalkcen, an 
eminent jurist of Amsterdam, containing an account of the rise and 
progreas of the disputes between the colonies and the mother country ; 



84 ADAMS. 

and of the resources and prospects of the United States. These papers 
were circulated by newspapers, all over Holland, and had a good deal 
of effect upon public opinion. We will leave, for a moment, the order 
of dates, and state that this portion of Mr. Adams' labors was concluded 
by the negotiation of a loan, in September, 1782, of eight millions of 
gilders, upon reasonably favorable terms. 

In July, 1781, while residing at Holland, he was summoned to Paris, 
for the purpose of consulting upon a plan of mediation, proposed by the 
Courts of Austria and Russia, which was not accepted, as the mediating 
powers would not acknowledge the independence of America, without 
the consent of Great Britain. During these negotiations, Mr. Adams 
was much annoyed, and the interests of his country much injured, by 
the selfish and intriguing conduct of the Count de Vergennes. He 
seems to have taken a dislike to the straight forward, manly character 
of the American minister. It was the policy of France, also, that the 
..Americans should be debarred from some of the advantages which they 
insisted upon as indispensable preliminaries of a pacification with Great 
Britain. It was not desirable for France, that the Britjsh Parliament 
should be aware of Mr. Adams' powers, respecting a treaty of commerce, 
beciuse it was her intention, as the more important country, in settling 
the conditions of peace, to secure to herself the lion's share of the com- 
mercial privileges, which England might be disposed to yield to her 
colonies. But Mr. Adams had too much skill, and too much indepen- 
dence to be either the dupe or the tool of the Count de Vergennes. 
Early in the year 1781, a message was transmitted to Congress, through 
the French Minister, at Philadelphia, complaining somewhat of the con- 
duct of the Plenipotentiary, and requesting them, " to be impressed with 
the necessity of prescribing to their Plenipotentiary, a perfect and open 
confidence in the French Ministers, and a thorough reliance on the 
King ; and would direct him to take no step without the approbation of 
his Majesty ; and after giving him, in his instructions, the principal and 
most important outlines for his conduct, they would order him, with 
respect to the manner of carrying them into execution, to receive his 
directions from the Count de Vergennes, or from the person who might 
be charged with the negotiations, in the name of the King." 

Congress instructed their Minister to repose the utmost confidence in 
the Ministers of the King of France, and to undertake nothing in the 
negotiation for peace or truce without their knowledge and concurrence 
But, as we have stated, the negotiation was broken off, and Mr. Adams 
returned to Holland. 

In 1783, Congress appointed Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, Mr. 
Henry Laurens, and Mr. Jefferson, commissioners for negotiating a peace ; 
and, in a spirit of unworthy concession to the French government, added 
to their instructions that " they should govern themselves by the advice 
and opinion of the Ministers of the King of France." This placed them 
almost entirely under the control of the Count de Vergennes. The com- 
missioners were displeased at finding themselves thus shackled, and 
strangers appointed to act upon the most vital interests of their country. 
They determined, therefore, to disobey the rash orders of Congress, and 



ADAMS. 85 

to secure for their country much better terms than fell in with the views 
of the French Ministry. The treaty of peace was signed November 
30, 1782, and ratified January 14, 1784; and its honorable and favorable 
terms are mainly due to the firmness and ability of the commissioners. 

A full account of Mr. Adarns' labors and services, from his first arrival 
in Europe to the peace, belongs to the diplomatic history of the country, 
and not to a sketch of his own life. The works which can be advanta- 
geously consulted on this subject, are Lyman's Diplomatic History of the 
United States, and Sparks' Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution. 

In January, 1785, Congress resolved to appoint a Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary at the Court of Great Britain, and Mr. Adams was chosen for this 
important and delicate office. A letter was written by him, to Mr. Jay, 
giving a graphic and interesting account of the circumstances of his 
public reception, which we will quote. 

" During my interview with the Marquis of Carmarthen, he told me it 
was customary for every foreign Minister, at his first presentation to the 
King, to make his Majesty some compliments conformable to the spirit of 
his credentials ; and when Sir Clement Cottrel Dormer, the master of 
the ceremonies, came to inform me that he should accompany me to 
the Secretary of State and to court, he said that every foreign minister 
whom he had attended to the Q.ueen, had always made an harangue 
to her Majesty, and he understood, though he had not been present, that 
they always harangued the King. On Tuesday evening the Baron 
de Lynden (Dutch ambassador) called upon me, and said he came 
from the Baron de Nolkin, (Swedish envoy,) and had been convers- 
ing upon the singular situation I was in, and they agreed in opinion 
that it was indispensable that I should make a speech, and that it 
should be as complimentary as possible. All this was parallel to the 
advice lately given by the Count de Vergennes to Mr. Jefferson. So 
that finding it was a custom established at both these great courts, 
that this court and the foreign ministers expected it, I thought I could 
not avoid it, although my first thoi^ht and inclination had been to 
deliver my credentials silently and retire. At one, on Wednesday, the 
first of June, the master of ceremonies called at my house, and went with 
me to the Secretary of State's office, in Cleveland Row. where the 
Marquis of Carmarthen received me, and introduced me to Mr. Frazier, 
his under secretary, who had been, as his lordship said, uninterruptedly 
in that office, through all the changes in administration for thirty years, 
having first been appointed by the Earl of Holderness. After a short 
conversation upon the subject of importing my effects from Holland and 
France free of duty, which Mr Frazier himself introduced. Lord Car- 
marthen invited me to go with him in his coach to court. When we 
arrived in the antichamber, the OEil de Bceuf of St. James, the master of 
the ceremonies met me and attended me while the Secretary of State went 
to take the commands of the King. While I stood m this place, where it 
seems all ministers stand upon such occasions, always attended by the 
master of ceremonies, the room very full of ministers of state, bishops, and 
all other sorts of courtiers, as well as the next room, which is the King's 
bedchamber, you may well suppose that I was the focus of all eyes. I 



86' ADAMS. 

was relieved, however, from the embarrassment of it, by the Swedish and 
Dutch ministers, who came to me and entertained me in a very agreeable 
conversation during the whole time. Some other gentlemen whom I 
had seen before, came to make their compliments too ; until the Marquis 
of Carmarthen returned and desired me to go with him to his Majesty ! 
I went with his lordship through the levee room into the King's closet. 
The door was shut, and I was left with his Majesty and the Secretary of 
State alone. I made the three reverences ; one at the door, another 
about halfway, and the third before the presence, according to the usage 
established at this and all the northern courts of Europe, and then 
addressed myself to his Majesty in the following words : ' Sir, the United 
States of America have appointed me their Minister Plenipotentiary to 
your Majesty, and have directed me to deliver to your Majesty this letter, 
which contains the evidence of it. It is in obedience to their express 
commands, that I have the honor to assure your Majesty of their unani- 
mous disposition and desire to cultivate the most friendly and liberal 
intercourse between your Majesty's subjects and their citizens, and of 
their best wishes for your Majesty's health and happiness, and for that of 
your royal family. 

" ' The appointment of a Minister from the United States to your 
Majesty's court, will form an epoch in the history of England and 
America. I think myself more fortunate than all my fellow-citizens, in 
having the distinguished honor to be the first to stand in your Majesty's 
royal presence, in a diplomatic character ; and I shall esteem myself the 
happiest of men, if I can be instrumental in recommending my country 
more and more to your Majesty's royal benevolence, and of restoring an 
entire esteem, confidence, and affection, or in better words, "the old 
good nature, and the old good harmony," between people, who, though 
separated by an ocean, and under different governments, have the same 
language, a similar religion, and kindred blood. I beg your Majesty's 
permission to add, that although I have sometimes before been intrusted 
by my country, it was never in my whole life, in a manner so agreeable 
to myself The King listened to every word I said, with dignity, it is 
true, but with apparent emotion. Whether it was the nature of the 
interview, or whether it was my visible agitation, for I felt more than I 
did or could express, that touched him, I cannot say, but he was much 
affected, and answered me with more tremor than I had spoken with, and 
said, ' Sir — The circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary, the 
language you have now held is so extremely proper, and the feelings you 
have discovered, so justly adapted to the occasion, that I must say, that 
I not only receive with pleasure the assurances of the friendly disposi- 
tion of the people of the United States, but that I am very glad the choice 
has fallen upon you to be their Minister. I wish you. Sir, to believe, and 
that it may be understood in America, that I have done nothing in the 
late contest, but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do, by 
the duty which I owed to my people. I will be frank with you. I was 
the last to conform to the separation : but the separation having been 
made, and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, 
that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States, as 



ADAMS. 87 

an independent power. The moment I see such sentiments and language 
as yours prevail, and a disposition to give this country the preference, 
that moment I shall say, let the circumstances of language, religion, and 
blood, have their natural and full effect.' 

" I dare not say that these were the King's precise words, and it is 
even possible that I may have, in some particular, mistaken his meaning; 
for although his pronunciation is as distinct as I ever heard, he hesi- 
tated sometimes between his periods, and between the members of the 
same period. He was indeed much affected, and I was not less so, and 
therefore I cannot be certain that I was so attentive, heard so clearly, 
and understood so perfectly, as to be confident of all his words or sense ; 
this I do say, that the foregoing is his Majesty's meaning, as I then 
understood it, and his own words as nearly as I can recollect them. 

" The King then asked me, whether I came last from France ? and 
upon my answering in the affirmative, he put on an air of familiarity, and 
smiling, or rather laughing, said, ' there is an opinion among some 
people, that you are not the most attached of all your countrymen to the 
manners of France.' I was surprised at this, because I thought it an 
indiscretion, and a descent from his dignity. I was a little embarrassed, 
but determined not to deny the truth on one hand, nor leave him to infe- 
from it any attachment to England on the other. I threw off as much 
gravity as I could, and assumed an air of gaiety and a tone of decision, 
as far as it was decent, and said ' That opinion. Sir, is not mistaken. I 
must avow to your Majesty I have no attachment but to my own country.' 
The King replied as quick as lightning, ' An honest man will never have 
any other.' 

" The King then said a word or two to the Secretary of State, which, 
being between them, I did not hear ; and then turned round and bowed 
to me, as is customary with all kings and princes, when they give the 
signal to retire. I retreated, stepping backwards, as is the etiquette, and 
making my last reverence at the door of the chamber, I went my way ; 
the master of ceremonies joined me at the moment of my coming out of 
the King's closet, and accompanied me through all the apartments down 
to my carriage. Several stages of servants, gentlemen porters, and under 
porters, roared out like thunder as I went along, ' Mr. Adams' servants. 
Mr. Adams' carriage,' " &/C. 

Notwithstanding this courteous reception at the British court, the 
feelings of the Ministry were soon discovered to be unfriendly towards 
the United States. The irritations produced by the long strife were not 
yet allayed, and the parent had not quite magnanimity enough to forgive 
her rebellious child. They refused to listen to any proposals for entering 
into a commercial treaty. 

While Mr. Adams was residing in London, he was enabled to render 
his country material service by the exercise of his literary talents. The 
new states of America were of course objects of great interest to the 
philosophers and statesmen of Europe, and a variety of opinions were 
held upon their policy and prospects. Among those who expressed 
themselves as dissatisfied with their political organization, were Mons. 
Turgot, th^ Abbe de Mably, and Dr. Price. M. Turgot, in a letter to 



88 ADAMS. 

♦ 
Dr. Price, observes, " The Americans have established three bodies, 
viz. a Governor, Council, and House of Representatives, merely because 
there is in England a King, a House of Lords, and a House of Commons ; 
as if this equilibrium, which, in England, may be a necessary check to 
the enormous influence of royalty, could be of any use in republics 
founded upon the equality of all the citizens." M. Turgot recommends 
the concentration of the whole power upon one representative assembly. 
These opinions derived weight from the high character of their author. 
This was a dark period in our history — the federal government was not 
yet formed — our credit was low — and the minds of men desponding and 
disposed to regard any state of things as better than that which actually 
existed. 

To counteract these impressions, Mr. Adams wrote and published in 
London, his Defence of the American Constitutions, in three volumes. 
It is a work of learning and ability, though bearing marks of the haste 
with which it was written. It did much service to his country, not only 
in correcting the influence of the above-mentioned writings at home, but 
in rendering the American cause respectable abroad. Mr. Adams moved 
in the most enlightened circles of English society, and occupied himself 
n gathermg information which might be useful to his own country. 

In 1787, he asked, and received permission to return home, and had 
the happiness to join his family and friends, after an absence of between 
eight and nine years. Congress at the same time, passed a resolution 
of thanks to be presented to him, fpr his able and faithful discharge of 
the various and important commissions with which he had been entrusted 
while abroad. 

In 1788, he was elected Vice President of the United States, and re- 
elected in 1792. In 1796, General Washington retired from public life, 
and Mr. Adams was elected President of the United States, though not 
without a good deal of opposition. After serving in this oflice four years, 
he was succeeded, as is well known, by Mr. Jefferson. 

To trace the history of Mr. Adams' administration, and to show the 
causes of his unpopularity, would fall within the province of general 
history, rather than of biography. But a slight sketch of his motives and 
principles, is due both to his own character and to the expectations of 
those who wish to obtain correct views of it. 

The French Revolution was the point upon which he was at issue 
with the majority of his countrymen. That tremendous political con- 
vulsion shook the whole earth to its centre, and created the most frantic 
excitement throughout the civilized world. The young and the enthu- 
siastic, hailed it as the dawn of a brighter day, not only for France, but 
for Europe, and pardoned its sanguinary excesses, regarding them as 
the natural results of that wild transport which would take possession of 
an uneducated population, at the sudden change from the most galling 
despotism to entire freedom. In this country, in particular, just begin- 
ning to enjoy the republican institutions which we had so dearly purchas- 
ed, there was an almost universal expression of admiration and sympathy. 
But there were not wanting many, even in our own country, who viewed 
the French Revolution with alarm and disgust. They abhorred its 



ADAMS. ' 89 

atrocities, regarded with suspicion and dislike the characters of its 
leaders, and dreaded the influence of its principles, as tending to over- 
throw the whole social fabric, and introduce the most visionary schemes 
of polity in the place of the governments, whose excellence had stood 
the test of ages. To this latter class, Mr. Adams and his party belong- 
ed. He had imbibed a strong, and, in truth, an unreasonable prejudice 
against the French people, while he resided in Europe ; and he viewed 
them, and their conduct, through its distorting medium. At the very 
commencement of his administration he found the country involved in 
a dispute with France, and one of his earliest communications to Con- 
gress complained, in dignified and elegant language, of an insult offered 
to the ambassador of the United States, by the government of that coun- 
try. So strong, however, was the partiality to the French, that many 
believed that the first provocation had been given hy us, and that it 
was our duty to tender an apology, and not demand satisfaction. Mr. 
Adams persisted, however, in the course which he deemed required by 
a regard for the honor of his country. He sent a commission, consisting 
of three envoys, Messrs. Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry, to France, who 
were treated with insolence and contumely by the French Directory. 
In these transactions, it was Mr. Adams' misfortune to please neither 
one of the great parties, which then divided the country. The demo- 
cratic party considered them as too strong, and actuated by too great 
an hostility towards France, while the federalists thought a more high- 
spirited conduct and more dignified attitude were required by the cir- 
cumstances of the case. 

The bitterness with which this party strife was carried on, is probably 
fresh in the recollections of many of our readers. It was actively foment- 
ed by a most licentious press, which violated all the confidences of 
private life, and indulged in the most unwarrantable personal allusions 
and reflections. Mr. Adams was accused of favoring monarchical insti- 
tutions, though his whole life had been spent in resisting them. It is 
curious to observe how the malice of his enemies warped and perverted 
the best acts of his life. His Defence of the American Constitution, 
which favors the plan of having an executive and two houses of legisla- 
tion, was quoted as a proof of his prepossessions in favor of a king, lords, 
and commons ; and his noble, moral courage, at the beginning of his 
career, in defending Captain Preston and his soldiers, was brought up at 
this late day, as giving evidence of his being under British influence. It 
is but doing justice to Mr. Jefferson, the leader of the opposing and tri- 
umphant party, to state, that he always retained the highest personal 
respect for Mr. Adams, though, in political opinions, he differed so wide- 
ly from him. When some young politicians were, in his presence, accus- 
ing Mr. Adams of designs hostile to republican institutions, he remarked, 
" Gentlemen, you do not know that man ; there is not upon this earth a 
more perfectly honest man than John Adams. Concealment is no part 
of his character. It is not in his nature to meditate any thing that he 
would not publish to the world. The measures of the general govern 
ment, are a fair subject for differences of opinion, but do not found your 
opinion on the notion that there is the smallest spice of dishonesty, moral 
12 



90 ADAMS. 

or political, in the character of John Adams, for I know him well, and 1 
repeat, that a man more perfectly honest never issued from the hands 
of his Creator." 

Mr. Adams was also firm in his conviction of the importance of a 
naval establishment, and he deserves the title of Father of the American 
Navy. Time has confirmed the justness of his views on this subject, but 
they were not popular at the time. 

His own manners and bearing were not dignified or conciliating, and, 
in this respect, he was decidedly inferior to Mr. Jefferson. The warmth 
of his temperament, and the ardor of his feelings, often betrayed him 
into intemperate expressions and rash actions, which no one would re- 
gret more than he, in his cool moments. 

In March, 1801, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, he retired to his 
quiet home, at Q,uincy, where he passed the remainder of his days. He 
amused himself with agricultural pursuits, and still retained a lively 
interest in the politics and literature of the day. He had an extensive 
correspondence, to fill up his leisure hours, and a large circle of friends, 
to whom he devoted much of his time. He was invited to become a candi- 
date for the office of Governor of Massachusetts, but declined. He de- 
fended the policy of Mr. Jefferson's administration towards England; and 
when the dispute terminated in war, he advocated its expediency and ne» 
cessity, in opposition to the views and sentiments of the majority of the 
people of Massachusetts. He published a series of letters on this subject, 
in one of the Boston papers, and when a loan was opened by the General 
Government, to meet the expenses of the war, he immediately took up a 
portion of the stock. In 1815, he had the pleasure of seeing his son at 
the head of the commission which signed the treaty of peace with Great 
Britain. He also renewed that friendship with Mr. JeffersOn, which had 
been interrupted by party strife, and some beautiful and characteristic 
letters passed between them, many of which have been printed. In 
1816, he was chosen a member of the college of electors, which voted 
for Mr. Monroe for President. 

In 1818 he was called upon to sustain the severest affliction that had 
ever befallen him, by the death of his beloved wife, who had been for so 
many years his guide, solace, and friend, and who had shared his 
patriotic enthusiasm, and borne without a murmur, all the sacrifices 
which duty to their country had required them both to make. On this 
occasion he received the following beautiful letter from Mr. Jefferson. 

" Monticello, November 13, 1818. 
** The public papers, my dear friend, announce the fatal event of which 
your letter, of October twentieth, had given me ominous foreboding. 
Tried myself in the school of affliction, by the loss of every form of 
connexion which can rive the human heart, I know well, and feel, what 
you have lost — what you have suffered — are suffering — and have yet to 
endure. The same trials have taught me, that, for ills so immeasurable, 
time and silence are the only medicines. I will not, therefore, by useless 
condolences, open afresh the sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling 
sincerely my tears with yours, will I say a word more where words are 



ADAMS. 91 

vain, but that it is of some comfort to us both, that the term is not very 
distant, at which we are to deposit, in the same cerement, our sorrows and 
suffering bodies ; and to ascend, in essence, to an ecstatic meeting with 
the friends we have loved and lost, and whom we shall still love and 
never lose again. God bless you and support you under your heavy 
afflictions. Thomas Jefferson." 

In 1820, a Convention of the people of Massachusetts was called, for 
the purpose of revising their State Constitution, and Mr. Adams was 
elected a member from Q,uincy. The Convention testified their sense of 
his services to his country, and their respect for his character, by electing 
him unanimously to the office of President, passing at the same time the 
following highly flattering resolution. 

" In Convention, November 15, 1820. 

" Whereas, the Honorable John Adams, a member of this Convention, 
and elected the President thereof, has, for more than half a century, 
devoted the great powers of his mind and his profound wisdom and 
learning to the service of his country and mankind: 

" In fearlessly vindicating the rights of the North American provinces 
against the usurpations and encroachments of the superintendant govern- 
ihent : 

" In diffusing a knowledge of the principles of civil liberty among his 
fellow subjects, and exciting them to a firm and resolute defence of the 
privileges of freemen : 

"In early conceiving, asserting,' and maintaining the justice'and practi- 
cability of establishing the independence of the United States of America: 

"In giving the powerful aid of his political knowledge in the formation 
of the Constitution of this his native state, which Constitution became, in 
a great measure, the model of those which were subsequently formed : 

" In conciliating the favor of foreign powers, and obtaining their coun- 
tenance and support in the arduous struggle for independence : 

" In negotiating the treaty of peace, which secured forever the sove- 
reignty of the United States, and in defeating all attempts to prevent it, 
and especially in preserving in that treaty the vital interest of the New- 
England States . 

" In demonstrating to the world, in his Defence of the Constitutions of 
the several United States, the contested principle, since admitted as an 
axiom, that checks and balances, in legislative power, are essential to 
true liberty : 

" In devoting his time and talents to the service of the nation, in the 
high and important trusts of Vice-President and President of the United 
States : 

" And, lastly, in passing an honorable old age in dignified retirement, 
in the practice of all the domestic virtues; thus exhibiting to his country- 
men and to posterity an example of true greatness of mind and of genuine 
patriotism : 

" Therefore, Resolved, That the members of this Convention, repre- 
senting the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do joyfully 
avail themselves of this opportunity to testify their respect and gratitude 



92 ADAMS. 

to this eminent patriot and statesman, for the great services rendered :>y 
him to his country, and their high gratification that, at this late periou of 
life, he is permitted, by divine Providence, to assist them witii his counsel 
in revising the Constitution, which, ibrty years ago, liis wisdom and pru- 
dence assisted to form. 

'* Resolved, That a committee of twelve be appointed by the chair, to 
communicate this proceeding to the Honorable Jolm Adams, to inform 
him of his election to preside in this body, and to introduce him to the 
chair of this Convention." 

This station he declined on account of his advanced age, being then 
eighty-five years old, but he was able to attend upon the Convention and 
fulfil ids duties as a member. 

The world lias hardly ever seen a spectacle of more moral beauty and 
grandeur, than was presented by the old age of Mr. Adams. The 
violence of party feeling had died away, and he had begun to receive that 
just appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded till after death. 
He had been always happy in his domestic relations, and he had a large 
circle of friends and acquaintances, who looked up to him with aflectionate 
admiration. He was also an object of great interest to intelligent 
stringers from all parts of tlie world, all of vvliom were desirous of seeing 
a man who done so much for tlie glory and happiness of his country. 
No one could look uj)on his venerable form, and think of what he had 
done and sufiered, and how he had given up all the prime and strength 
of his life to the pul)lic good, without the deepest emotions of gratitude 
and respect. It was his peculiar good fortune, to witness the complete 
success of the institutions which he had been so active in creating and 
supporting. He saw, every day, the intluences of the revolution 
widening and extending, and the genial liglit of freedom continually 
adding increase to the wealth, intelligence, and happiness of his country- 
men. He could look around upon the thriving towns, the smiling 
villages, the busy factories, the crowded warehouses of his country, and 
exclaim, " Behold the work of my hands, the fruits of my labors, the 
result of my toils, dangers, and sacrifices." It was his privilege also to 
preserve his mind unclouded to the last. He always retained his enjoy- 
ment of books, conversation, and reflection. In 1824, his cup of happi- 
ness was filled to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highest 
station in the gill of the people. 

The fourth of July, 182(5, which completed the half century since the 
signing of the Declaration of Independence, arrived, and tlicre were but 
three of the signers of that innnortal instrument loll upon earth, to hail 
its morning light. And, as it is well known, on that day two of these 
finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable, as to seem 
miraculous. For a few days before, Mr. Adams had been rapidly fail- 
ing, and on the morning of the fourth, he found himself too weak to rise 
from his bed. On being recptestcd to name a toast for the customary 
celebration of the day, he exclaimed, " iNOErr.NDi-.Ncr, foukvkr." 
When tlie day was ushered in, by the ringing of bells, and the firing of 
cannon, he was asked by one of his attendants, if he knew what day it 



ADAMS. 93 

was? He replied, " O yes ; it is the glorious fourth of July — God bless it 
— God bless you all." In the course of the day he said, " It is a great 
and glorious day." The last words he uttered were, " Jefferson survives." 
But he had, at one o'clock, resigned his spirit into the hands of his God. 

When the news was spread throughout the country that these two 
men, who had been associated together in so many important labors, and 
whose names were identified with the glory and prosperity of their country, 
had botli died on the same day, and on that which completed the half 
century since they signed the Declaration of Independence, of which one 
was the author, and the other the most powerful advocate and defender ; 
the effect was solemn and thrilling in the highest degree. It seemed a 
direct and special manifestation of God's power. The general feeling 
was, (to borrow the beautiful words of one of their eulogists,) " that had 
the prophet lent his ' chariot of fire,' and his * horses of fire,' their ascent 
could hardly have been more glorious." In all parts of the country a 
day was set apart, by the large towns, for the solemn commemoration of 
their death, and men of the most distinguished talents were invited to 
pronounce their eulogies. All political prejudices were forgotten in the 
general burst of feeling ; nothing was recollected but their long lives of 
devoted patriotism, and the sublime circumstances which attended their 
close. 

The character of Mr. Adams h<as been displayed in his life so fully, 
that only a few remarks need now be made upon it. He was a man of 
bold and ardent temperament, and strong passions, and was occasionally 
led by them into imprudences and indiscretions. But his motives were 
always high and honorable. No man was less selfish, or less swayed by 
personal considerations. lie was ready to sacrifice every thing to the 
public good. lie thought for himself, and expressed his sentiments and 
opinions with great, sometimes with too great, boldness. lie did not 
always treat with proper respect the views of those who differed from 
him, nor show a sufficient toleration to their honest prejudices. But his 
frank, manly, intrepid character and bearing, which kept nothing in 
reserve, and j)ermitted his weakness and his strength to be ecjually seen, 
secured him the warm attacliment of his friends, and the respect of his 
political enemies. His intellectual powers were of a higli order. He 
had much of that vividness of conception, and glow of feeling, which 
belong to the temperament of genius. But there was nothing tiiat was 
visionary and Utopian in his mind ; on the contrary, it was distinguished 
by a large share of tlie practical and useful, by good sense, judgment, 
shrewdness, and knowledge of the world. He had read and studied, both 
books and men, with great attention ; his writings bear witness to the 
former, and his life to the latter. He took large and comprehensive 
views, and saw a great way ahead ; we have already remarked in his 
life, that, from the first beginning of the disturbances, he clearly foresaw 
that it must end in a rupture between the two countries, and an appeal 
to arms ; and in this opinion he was almost alone for some time. Time 
has also shown, how correct his views were, with regard to the French 
Revolution, though they were those, at the mijment, of a very small 



94 ADAMS. 

majority. He was a nervous, eloquent, and impressive speaker ; and, in 
this respect, had a decided advantage over his great rival, Mr. Jefferson. 
In their written compositions there was a marked difference ; each being 
characteristic of the temperament, education, and habits of thought of the 
two. The style of Mr. Adams was vigorous, condensed, and abrupt, 
sacrificing elegance, to strength, going straight to the point proposed, 
and not stopping to gather ornaments by the way ; that of Mr. Jefferson 
was more marked by ease, gracefulness, finish, and a happy selection of 
words, and by a vein of philosophical reflection, which we do not see 
in the writings of Mr. Adams. 

The eloquence of Mr. Adams has been delineated in a passage of great 
power and splendor by Mr. Webster. Though often quoted, it is of such 
uncommon merit, both in thought and style, that we have no hesitation 
in transcribing it. 

" The eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled his general character, and 
formed indeed a part of it. It was bold, manly, and energetic ; and such 
the crisis required. When public bodies are to be addressed on momen- 
tous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions 
excited, nothing is valuable in speech, farther than it is connected with 
high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnest- 
ness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, 
does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and 
learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases 
may be marshaled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must 
exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, 
intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after it, — they 
cannot reach it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the outbreaking of a 
fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with 
spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, 
the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and 
disgust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their 
children, and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. Then 
words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory 
contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued, as in 
the presence of higher qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent : then self 
devotion is eloquent. The clear conception, outrunning the deductions 
of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking 
on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging 
the whole man onward, right onward to his object, — this, this is elo- 
quence ; or rather, it is something greater and higher than eloquence, — 
it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action." 

The personal appearance and manners of Mr. Adams were not 
particularly prepossessing. His face, as his portraits manifest, was 
intellectual and expressive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and 
his manners were frequently abrupt and uncourteous. He had neither 
the lofty dignity of Washington, nor the engaging elegance and 
gracefulness, which marked the manners and address of Jefferson. 

Mr. Adams was the father of four children, of whom none but the 



ADAMS. 95 

Hon. John Quincy Adams are now living. Mr. Adams left to this son 
his mansion house, and many valuable papers. He gave to the town of 
Quincy a lot of land, to erect a church for the society, of which he was 
for sixty years a member. This edifice is now completed, and is one of 
the most beautiful churches in New-England. He also bequeathed 
another lot of land to the town for an Academy, and his library, of 
more than two thousand volumes, for the use of that Academy. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

The early life of any man so distinguished as the subject of this 
memoir, must ever be interesting, not only to the philosopher, who de- 
lights to follow the gradually expanding mind, from the weakness of 
infancy, through all the stages of existence, to the full maturity of man- 
hood, and to mark the effect of even trifling causes in enhobling or 
debasing the mind, and in forming the character ; but also, in a degree, 
to all, whose interest in mankind is not lost in self When we find a 
man, to whom have been intrusted the destinies of nations ; who has con- 
structed and set in motion great moral machines, whose influence and 
efiects have been felt long after he has passed away; who has been active 
in promoting either the good or the evil of the human race ; we naturally 
ask, whence he has sprung? With eager curiosity we look back, and in 
the sports of the child, in the pursuits and occupations of youth, we seek 
the origin and source of all that is noble and exalted in the man, the 
germ and the bud from which have burst forth the fair fruit and the 
beautiful flower ; and we carefully treasure up each trifling incident and 
childish expression, in the hope to trace in them some feature of his 
after greatness. 

Feeling that even the childhood of a man like Thomas Jefferson, and 
the growth of those feelings and opinions which afterwards embodied 
themselves in the Declaration of American Independence, would be 
interesting to every American, we should deem it fortunate, could we 
give even a short sketch of his early life. But of this, or of his family, 
we have few accounts ; and must, therefore, content ourselves with a 
general outline of his after life, so full of striking events and useful labors. 

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was born 
on the second day of April, 1743, (Old Style,) at Shadwell, an estate own- 
ed by his father, in Albermarle County, Virginia, and near to Monticelio, 
where he afterwards resided. His family emigrated at a very early period 
from a part of Wales, near Mount Snowden, as is supposed, and occu- 
pied a most respectable situation in the colony. His father, Peter Jeffer- 
son, although self educated, was a man of talent and science, as would 
appear from the fact, that he was appointed, together with Joshua Fry, 
then Professor of Matliematics, in William and Mary College, to com- 
plete the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, which 
had been begun some time before ; and also to make the first map of the 
State, since that made, or rather conjectured, by Captain Smith, could 
scarcely be called one. His father was married in 1739, to Jane, daugh- 
ter of Isham Randolph, by whom he had six daughters and two sons, of 
whom Thomas was the elder. 
13 



98 JEFFERSON. 

At the age of five years, Thomas was sent to an English school, and 
at the age of nine, was placed under the care of Mr. Douglass, with 
whom he continued till his father's death, in August, 1757; by which 
event lie became possessed of the estate of Shad well, his birth-place. 
The two years after his father's decease were passed under the instruc- 
tions of the Rev. Mr. Maury, who is represented to have been a fine 
classical scholar, at the termination of which period, that is, in 17C0, he 
entered William and Mary College, where he remained two years. 
While at this institution, he enjoyed the instruction and conversation of 
Dr. Small, Professor of Mathematics ; and we do not know how we can 
better express the benefit he received from that source, than in Jeffer- 
son's own words. " It was my great good fortune," says he, in the short 
memoir he has left us, " and probably fixed the destinies of my life, that 
Dr. William Small, of Scotland, was then Professor of Mathematics ; a 
man profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy 
talent of communication, correct and gentlemanly manners, and an 
enlarged and liberal mind. He, most happily for me, became soon 
attached to me, and made me his daily companion, when not engaged 
in the school; and from his conversation, I got my first views of the 
expansion of science, and of the system of things in which we are plac- 
ed. Fortunately, the philosophical chair became vacant soon after my 
arrival at college, and he was appointed to fill it per interim: and he 
was the first who ever gave, in that college, regular lectures in Ethics, 
Rhetoric, and Belles Lettres. He returned to Europe in 17G2, having 
previously filled up the measure of his goodness to me, by procuring for 
me, from his most intimate friend, George Wythe, a reception as a 
student of law, under his direction, and introduced me to the acquain- 
tance and familiar table of Governor Fauquier, the ablest man who had 
ever filled that office. With him and at his table. Dr. Small and Mr 
Wythe, his amici omnium horarum, and myself, formed a partie quarree, 
and to the habitual conversations on these occasions, I owed much instruc- 
tion. Mr. Wythe continued to be my faithful and beloved Mentor in 
youth, and my most affectionate friend through life." 

In 1767, Mr. Jefferson was called to the bar ; and for the short time 
he continued in the practice of his profession, rose rapidly, and distin- 
guished himself by his energy and acuteness as a lawyer, and by his 
enlarged and liberal views. JBut the times called for greater action ; and 
the dull pleadings and circumscribed sphere of a colonial court were ill 
fitted for such a mind and for such views as Jefferson's. The policy of 
England, never kind and affectionate towards her colonies, whom she 
was disposed to treat as a froward child, had for several years past, 
manifested itself in more open violations of the rights of her American 
subjects. Her ministers seemed blinded to consequences, and wholly 
forgetful that the same spirit of liberty, which led the Pilgrims across the 
Atlantic to seek a refuge from the oppressions of a king and an arch- 
bishop, would compel them, now that the arm of the oppressor had fol- 
lowed them across the waters, to resist even unto blood the exactions of 
a Parliament. This spirit of resistance was already roused among the 
colonists, and was gradually spreading itself from Massachusetts Bay to 



JEFFERSON 99 

the Carolinas ; and every proceeding of the mother country was scruti- 
nized and weighed with the utmost jealousy. This, then, was no time 
for mere professional labor ; the political arena was open, and the courts 
of law were soon deserted ; the rights of individuals were forgotten for 
the rights of nations ; the contests for things were neglected, in the con- 
test for principles. 

The enlarged views which Mr. Jefferson had ever entertained, soon 
led him to take an active part in political life, and he abandoned, in a 
great measure, the profession of the law. In 17G9, he was elected a 
member of the General Assembly of Virginia, for Albemarle County, 
and it was in this body that he made his first effort in favor of the eman- 
cipation of slaves, but without success; for, as he himself remarks, under 
a regal government, and while every thing was to be made subservient 
to the interests of the mother country, " nothing liberal could expect 
success." This session was of short duration, the Assembly being very 
early dissolved by the Governor, Lord Botetourt, on account of some 
offensive resolutions which were passed, countenancing the proceedings 
of Massachusetts. Mr. Jefferson was, however, immediately reelected, 
and continued a member until the Revolution put an end to the meeting 
of those bodies. 

In 1773 the Legislature of Virginia appointed a committee of corres- 
pondence, of which Mr. Jefferson was one, to communicate with similar 
committees, which should be appointed in the other parts of the country, 
for the purpose of animating the people of the different colonies in their 
resistance to British aggression ; and the wisdom of this measure soon 
became apparent in the unity of operations which it produced during that 
eventful period, and in the community of sentiment and brotherhood 
among the inhabitants of the several colonies, whose cause was the same, 
and who now began to feel themselves one nation. 

The peojjle of Virginia, though they had already shown themselves 
determined not to submit to any infringement of their liberties, were yet 
far behind Massachusetts in their opposition to the encroachments of the 
British government. They had not yet felt the full weight of the iron 
arm of oppression ; the acts of Parliament had pressed most heavily on 
Massachusetts; and the cup of her wrongs was nearly full, when the Boston 
Port Bill completed the measure. The passage of this bill sent a shock 
thi\jugh the colonies, that roused them to a consideration of their situation ; 
for although it was aimed at and intended to operate in a single place, 
yet it showed too well the determination of the government to de- 
stroy, one by one, the liberties of America; it taught them that they 
must live and die the slaves of absolute power, or promptly and manfully 
make common cause with Massachusetts. The news of the passage of 
thi.s bill was received while the Assembly of Virginia was in session; and 
through the agency of Patrick Henry, Jefferson, and a few other members, 
a resolution was passed, setting apart the first day of June, 1774, on which 
the act was to go into operation, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and 
prayer, " devoutly to implore the divine interposition for averting the 
heavy calamities which threatened destruction to their civil rights, and 
the evils of a civil war, and to give them one mind to oppose, by all just 
and proper means, every injury to American rights." 



100 JEFFERSON. 

This resolution was of course highly offensive to the royal Governor, 
Lord Dunmore, who immediately had recourse to the usual expedient, 
and dissolved the assembly. He could not, however, prevent the mem- 
bers from meeting in convention as private individuals, which they 
immediately did, and passed resolutions, recomm.ending the people of the 
colony to elect deputies to a State Convention, for the purpose of con- 
sidering the affairs of the colony, and also to appoint delegates to a 
a General Congress, in case such a measure should be agreed to by the 
other colonies. Mr. Jefferson was afterwards chosen a member of the 
State Convention, which met in pursuance of these resolutions, but was 
himself unable to attend from sickness. He sent them, however, a 
draught of some instructions for the delegates to the General Congress, 
which, though not adopted, were published by the convention, under the 
title of " A Summary View of the Rights of British America." The 
terms in which the rights of the colonies were asserted, the authority 
claimed by the Parliament absolutely and totally denied, and the conduct 
of the King and the administration commented upon, were esteemed so 
bold and severe by the majority of the members, that they refused to 
adopt them ; and, in consequence, more mild and temperate instructions 
were given. The pamphlet soon found its way to England, where, 
after undergoing some alterations by Mr. Burke, it was published, and 
several editions circulated. In consequence of this publication, Mr. 
Jefferson was threatened with a prosecution for high treason by Lord 
Dunmore, and in England his name was added to those of Hancock, 
Henry, the Adamses, and others, in a bill of attainder commenced in 
Parliament, but suppressed in its early stages. 

The doctrine advocated by Mr. Jefferson, however universally admitted 
at the present day, must then have been esteemed singularly bold, as is 
indeed evident from the fact, that it was disapproved by some of the 
most ardent patriots of the Revolution. The people, attached as they 
were to England, were certainly not prepared for it at that period. The 
substance of it is given by Mr. Jefferson as follows. " I took the ground 
that, from the beginning, I had thought the only one orthodox or tena- 
ble, which was, that the relation between Great Britain and these 
colonies, was exactly the same as that of England and Scotland, after 
the accession of James and until the Union, and the same as her present 
relations with Hanover, having the same executive chief, but no 
other necessary political connexion ; and that our emigration from Eng- 
land to this country, gave her no more rights over us, than the emigra- 
tions of the Danes and Saxons, gave to the present authorities of the 
mother country over England. In this doctrine, however, I had never 
been able to get any one to agree with me but Mr. Wythe. He con- 
curred in it from the first dawn of the question. What was the political 
relation between us and England 1 Our other patriots, Randolph, the 
Lees, Nicholas, Pendleton, stopped at the half-way house of John 
Dickinson, who admitted that England had a right to regulate our com- 
merce, and to lay duties on it for the purposes of regulation, but not of 
raising revenue. But for this ground there was no foundation in com- 
pact, in any acknowledged principles of colonization, nor in reason ; 



JEFFERSON. 101 

expatriation being a natural right, and acted on as such by all nations, 
in all ages." 

The proceedings of the first Congress which met at Philadelphia on 
the fifth September, 1774, in pursuance of resolutions passed by the 
several colonies, similar to those of Virginia, do not properly belong to 
the life of Mr. Jefferson, who was not a member, and are therefore passed 
over here without remark. Before the meeting of the second Congress, 
however, Mr. Jefferson was elected in the place of Peyton Randolph, 
who, as Speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, was obliged to 
attend the meeting of that body, and accordingly took his seat on the 
twenty-first June, 1775, and was very soon placed on several very 
important committees. 

As Mr. Jefferson, with his colleagues, Mr. Lee and Mr. Harrison, 
were on their way to Philadelphia, an incident is said to have occurred 
of a most flattering nature, showing the confidence placed in them by 
their fellow-citizens. They were met by some of the inhabitants of the 
colony, wlio, living in the remoter parts of the country, had heard only 
by report of the tyranny which was preparing for them, and thus ad- 
dressed : " You assert that there is a fixed design to invade our rights 
and privileges. We own that we do not see this clearly, but since you 
assure us that it is so, we believe the fact. We are about to take a very 
dangerous step, but we confide in you, and are ready to support you in 
every measure you shall think proper to adopt." 

In August, 1775, Mr. Jefferson was reelected by the Convention of 
Virginia, to the third Congress, and, during the winter, took an active 
part in all its proceedings. 

To us who now look calmly back on the events of that momentous 
period, the conduct of the British Ministry seems little short of infatua- 
tion. When the American colonists first raised their voice against the 
acts of the Parliament, it was but to obtain a redress of a few particular 
grievances ; the thought had not occurred to them of a separation from 
the mother country, and had it been but whispered to them, the proposi- 
tion would have been universally rejected. They loved their father- 
land ; they were Englishmen, or the sons of Englishmen, and they look- 
ed up to the institutions and the customs of England, with the deepest 
veneration. They would have endured any thing, but slavery, every 
thing, but the loss of those rights, which, as Englishmen, they believed 
unalienable, and which they held dearer than existence itself; and had 
the British Ministry but adopted conciliatory measures, and relaxed 
somewhat of their pretensions, they might still have retained the brightest 
jewel of the British crown. But instead of adopting the wise counsels 
of Chatham and Burke, they imposed greater burdens, and added insult 
to oppression, till it was too late; till the spirit of opposition liad acquired 
a fearful and resistless energy ; till the cloud, at first no bigger than a 
man's hand, had spread over the whole heavens, and the storm burst with 
a violence that swept before it the firmest bulwar,ks of British power. 
For a year or two before the meeting of the Congress of '7(5, the belief 
that a separation from the mother country was necessary, had prevailed 
among the leading men of the colonies, and was now fast increasing 



102 JEFFERSON. 

among the great body of the people. They felt that the period for 
reconciliation had gone by ; the blood of American citizens had been 
shed on the plains of Lexington and Contord, and on the heights of 
Bunker Hill, and nothing was now left but a resort to arms, and an as- 
sumption of their rights as an independent nation. 

On Friday, June seventh, 1776, in conformity with the instructions 
given them by the Convention, the Virginia delegates in Congress moved, 
" that the Congress should declare that these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved 
from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion 
between them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally 
dissolved ; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the 
assistance of foreign powers, and a confederation be formed to bind the 
colonists more closely together." A proposition like this, fraught as it 
was with the most momentous consequences, was not to be adopted 
hastily. It was very fully discussed on the Saturday and Monday fol- 
lowing, when the further consideration of it was postponed to the first 
day of July, and a committee of five were appointed in the mean time to 
draft a Declaration of Independence. This committee consisted of 
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, and 
Robert R. Livingston. Mr. Jefferson, as chairman of the committee, 
was desired by his colleagues to prepare the draft. 

Here let us pause for a moment, and consider the causes, which, 
operating for a series of years, had at last led, or rather compelled, the 
colonists, to sever the ties which had so long bound them to England. 

The measures which Great Britain had adopted towards her American 
colonies, had ever been most arbitrary and unjust. These colonies had 
grown up entirely without her aid or fostering care. Separated by the 
wide Atlantic from every civilized nation, unassisted by the troops or 
the money of England, they had struggled successfully against all the 
dangers and disadvantages of their situation. With a savage foe con- 
tinually hovering on their borders, and whose incursions were every 
whei^ marked by the blood of their wives and children, and the ashes 
of their dwellings, the settlers had still subdued the forests, cultivated 
the soil, built up flourishing towns over every part of the Atlantic States, 
and sent forth their ships to every part of the commercial world. When 
the parent saw her colonies thus rapidly increasing in wealth and power, 
and that, so far from being a burden and a drawback, they could be made 
a source of a great and continually growing revenuej it was then that she 
thought of protection. From that moment it became the fixed and 
determined policy of the British government to make America, in every 
thing, contribute to the wealth, the importance, and the glory of England ; 
and every measure tended to this end, no matter how injurious in its 
effects to the colonies. One of the first encroachments upon their rights 
was, by denying them the exercise of free trade with all parts of the 
world. In order to make them a source of profit, Great Britain was to 
be the depot of all their most valuable exports, which were aflerwards to 
be shipped to other countries by the British merchant for his own benefit. 
All the most necessary articles for home consumption were to be purchased 



JEFFERSON. 103 

of the British manufacturers, at such prices as they, fearing no competi- 
tion irom abroad, might choose to demand ; and, to enhance this profit, 
the colonies were not only forbidden to purchase of any other nation than 
England, but even to manufacture themselves. Or if this privilege was 
in any case granted them, they were prohibited from advancing beyond 
the first stages, and were only allowed to prepare the material for the 
hands of the British workman ; and the Governors of the different pro- 
vinces were directed, under severe penalties, to abate the manufactories 
and mills of certain sorts as common nuisances. But Great Britain did not 
content herself with barely regulating the commerce of her colonies, she 
soon interfered with their domestic affairs, and made manifest her deter- 
mination to reduce them to a state of absolute dependence and subjection. 
It is not our intention here to particularize all the various encroachments 
upon American liberties ; such detail would far exceed the narrow 
compass of this work. Let the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Boston 
Port Bill, bear witness to those invasions. But the descendants of those 
men who had dared all the hardships of an inhospitable shore, and an 
unexplored wilderness, were not to be tamely enslaved ; they were not the 
men to sit quietly by, and see their rights and liberties, as Englishmen, 
as men, one by one taken from them, without raising a voice or an arm 
in their defence. They believed, that although the Atlantic rolled 
between, they were still entitled to the same rights and the same privi- 
leges as British subjects in the old world, and they determined to contend 
for those rights. When the course of oppression began, they petitioned ; 
those petitions were but the occasion of new injuries. They remonstrated 
respectfully, but firmly ; those remonstrances were disregarded, insult was 
added to oppression, and every opportunity was taken to irritate and ex- 
asperate them. In vain did Burke raise his voice against this mad policy 
of the Ministry ; in vain did Chatham warn them of the disastrous conse- 
quences. Led on by a blind fate, they heeded not, they stopped not, 
till America, stript of every resource, and driven to desperation, could 
only appeal to arms. The moment when that appeal was to be made, so 
full of interest, so big with the destinies of a world, had now arrived. 
The step which was now to be taken, could never be retraced ; the 
declaration now to be made could never be recalled ; once made, there 
could be no hope of reconciliation but in absolute submission. The 
Rubicon was before them. On the one side was slavery ; on the other — 
clouds and darkness. 

What must have been the feelings of that man — what the emotions 
which swelled his breast — w ho was charged with the preparation of that 
Declaration, which, while it made known the wrongs of America, was 
also to publish her to the world, free, sovereign, and independent ? For 
himself he had not a thought ; a cold, calculating prudence, in vain 
warned him how great was the risk, how few the chances of success; in 
vain told him of his country pillaged by foreign troops, and deluged in the 
blood of its own citizens; in vain pointed to the gibbet, the rebel's doom. 
What though the loss of all things, and the death of a traitor were before 
him — it was his country demanded the sacrifice, and it was cheerfully made. 
Through all the darkness of the present, he saw the brightness of the 



104 JEFFERSON. 

future ; he saw, in imagination, his country the abode of a free and happy 
people, and he was content ; his hand trembled not, as he wrote, America, 
Free and Independent. 

Living as we now do in a free land, far removed from all the troubles 
and vicissitudes of war, in the full enjoyment of liberties, which seem as 
necessary to our existence as the air we breathe, we can hardly conceive 
of the thoughts which must have crowded on the mind of Jefferson, while 
penning the Declaration of Independence. A man of weaker mind, or 
ess firmness and decision of character, would have been overwhelmed, 
and have shrunk in dismay from the task. But Jefferson did not disap- 
point the high expectations which had been formed of him. He went to 
his task with the full assurance that his cause was the cause of liberty ; 
and he rose from it confirmed in the resolution, to die, if necessary, in its 
defence. The Declaration of Independence is one of the most remarka- 
ble papers ever written ; and did no other effort of the mind of its author 
exist, that alone would be sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. 
The Declaration, as drafted by Mr. Jefferson, was by him submitted to 
his colleagues, and, after a few unimportant alterations made by them, 
was reported by the committee, and read on Friday, the twenty-eighth of 
June. The original motion made by the Virginia delegation, namely, 
that Congress should declare the colonies free, sovereign, and indepen- 
dent, having been disposed of in the affirmative, on Tuesday, the second 
of July, by a vote of all the States except New- York, (whose members did 
not consider themselves authorized by their instructions to vote on this 
question,) Congress proceeded to a consideration of the Declaration, which, 
after being debated during the greater parts of the second, third, and 
fourth of July, and after some passages which were thought objectionable 
had been stricken out, and some other alterations made, was finally 
agreed to by the House, and signed on the evening of the fourth by all 
the members present, except Mr. Dickinson. 

The Declaration of Independence is so intimately connected with the 
name of Thomas Jefferson, that any sketch of his life would seem imper- 
fect without it. We therefore present it as originally reported by hira, 
together with the alterations of Congress. 

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, 
in [General] Congress assembled.* 

When in the course of human events, it becomes neces- 
sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
have connected them with another, and to assume among 
the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to 
which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the 
separation. 

* Tlie parts struck out by Congresp are printed in italics, and enclosed in brackets ; 
and the pai-ts added are placed in the margin, or in a concurrent column. 



JEFFERSON. 



105 



"We hold these truths to be self evident : that all men 
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Crea- 
tor with [inherent and] inalienable rights ; that among certain 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that 
to secure these rights, governments are instituted among 
men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed ; that whenever any form of government becomes 
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to 
alter or abolish it ; and to institute new government, lay- 
ing its foundation on such principles, and organizing its 
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to 
effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will 
dictate, that governments long established, should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly 
all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed 
to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right them- 
selves, by abolishing the forms to which they are accus- 
tomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations 
[begun at a distinguished period and] pursuing invariably 
the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under 
absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to 
throw off such government, and to provide new guards for 
their future security. Such has been the patient suffer- 
ance of these colonies ; and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to [expunge] their former systems alter 

of government. The history of the present King of Great 
Britain, is a history of [unremitting] injuries and usurpa- repeated 
tions, [among which appears no solitary fact to contradict all having 
the uniform tenor of the rest, hut all have] in direct object 
the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. 
To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, 
[for the truth of ichich we pledge a faith yet unsullied by 
jalsehood.] 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome, 
and necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immedi- 
ate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their 
operation, till his assent should be obtained, and when so 
suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws, for the accommoda- 
tion of large districts of people, unless those people 
would relinquish the right of representation in the legis- 
lature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants 
only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unu- 
sual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of 
their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them 
into compliance with his measures. 

A He has dissolved representatives houses repeatedly [and 
14 



106 JEFFERSON. 

continually] for opposing with manly firmness, his inva- 
sions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions, 
to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative 
powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the 
people at large for their exercise, the state remaining, in 
the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from 
without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
states ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturali- 
zation of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage 
their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new 
appropriations of lands. 
obstructed He has [siiferedl the administration of justice, [totally 

]jy to cease in some of these states,] refusing his assent to laws 

for establishing judiciary powers, 
t He has made [our] judges dependant on his will alone, 

for the tenure of their oiBces, and the amount and paymfent 
of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, \by a self- 
assumed poiocr] and sent hither swarms of new officers, to 
harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies 
[and ships ofivar] without the consent of our legislatures. 
He has affected to render the military independent of, 
and superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdic- 
tion foreign to our constitutions, and unacknowledged by 
our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended 
legislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops 
among us ; for protecting them by a mock trial from pun- 
ishment for any murders which they should commit on 
the inhabitants of these states; for cutting off our trade 
with all parts of the world ; for imposing taxes on us with 

in many cases out our consent ; for depriving us [ ] of the benefits of 
trial by jury ; for transporting us beyond seas, to be tried 
for pretended offences ; for abolishing the free system of 
English laws, in a neighboring province ; establishing 
therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boun- 
daries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instru- 
ment for introducing the same absolute rule into these 
colonies [states ;] for taking away our charters, abolishing our most 
valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our 
governments ; for suspending our own legislatures, and 
declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for 
us, in all cases whatsoever. 

by declaring He has abdicated government here, [loithdratoing his gov- 

us out of his ernors,anddeclaringusoutof his allegiance and pi'otection.] 

protection, 

and waging war against us 



JEFFERSON. 



107 



He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt 
our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign 
mercenaries, to complete the works of death, desolation, 
and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty, 
and perfidy, [ ] unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens taken captive on 
the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to be- 
come the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to 
fall themselves by their hands. 

He has [ ] endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of 
our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known 
rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all 
ages, sexes, and conditions [of existence.l 

[He has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellow- 
citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture, and confiscation 
of our property. 

He has umged cruel war against human nature itself, 
violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, in the 
persons of a distant people, who never offended him, cap- 
tivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemis- 
phere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation 
thither. ' This piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel 
powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great 
Britain. Determined to keep open a market, where men 
should be bought and sold, he has prostit7ited his negative 
for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to 
restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage 
of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is 
now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, 
and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived 
them, by murdering the people on ichom he also obtruded 
them : thus paying off former crimes committed against 
the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them 
to commit against the lives of another.^ 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned 
for redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated peti- 
tions have been answered only by repeated injuries. 

A prince whose character is thus marked by every act 
which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a [ ] 
people, [icho mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely 
believe, that the hardiness of one man adventured, within 
the short compass of tivelve years only, to lay a foundation 
so broad and so undisguised for tyranny, over a people 
fostered and fixed in principles offreedotn.^ 

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British 
brethren. We have warned them from time to time of 
attempts by their legislature, to extend [«] jurisdiction 
over [these our states.l We have reminded them of the 



scarcely pa- 
ralleled in the 
most barbar- 
ous ages, and 
totally 

excited do- 
mestic insur- 
rections a- 
mong us, and 
has 



tree 



an unwar- 
rantable 
us 



108 



JEFFERSON. 



have 
and we have 
conjured 
them by 

would inevi- 
tably 



circumstances of our emigration and settlement here, 
[no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: 
that these were effected at the expense of our otcn blood and 
treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great 
Britain : that in constituting indeed our several forms of 
government, we had adopted one common king, thereby lay- 
ing a foundation for perpetual league and amity with them, 
but that submission to their Parliament, was no 2^<irt of 
our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credit- 
ed, and] we [ ] appealed to their native justice and mag- 
nanimity, [as toell as to] the ties of our common kindred 
to disavow these usurpations which [toere likely to] inter- 
rupt our connexion and correspondence. They too have 
been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity, 
[and when occasions have been given them, by the regular 
course of their laws, of removing from their councils the 
disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free election, 
reestablished them in power. At this very time, too, they 
are permitting their Chief Magistrate to send over not only 
soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch and foreign 7ner- 
cenaries, to invade and destroy 7is. These facts have given 
the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids 
us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must 
endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold them. 
as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace 
friends. Wc might have been a free and a great people 
together; but a ccmmunication of grandeur and of free- 
dom, it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, since they 
will have it. The road to happiness and to glory is open 
to us too. We will tread it apart from them, and] acqui- 
esce in the necessity which denounces our [eternal] sep- 
aration [ ] ! 



We must 
therefore 

and hold them 
as we hold the 
rest of man- 
kind, enemies 
in war, in 
peace friends. 

We therefore, the representatives 
of the United States of America, in 
general Congress assembled, do in 
the name, and by the authority of 
the good people of these [states re- 
ject and renounce all allegiance and 
subjection to the Kings of Great 
Britain, and all others, who may 
hereafter claim by, through, or un- 
der them; wc utterly dissolve all 
political connexion which may here- 



We therefore, the representatives 
of the United States of America, in 
general Congress assembled, appeal- 
ing to the Supreme Judge of the 
world for the rectitude of our inten- 
tions, do in the name, and by the 
authority of the good people of tiiese 
colonies, solemnly publish and de- 
clare, that these united colonics are, 
and of right ought to be, free and 
independent states ; that they are 



JEFFERSON. 



109 



tofbrc Jiave subsisted between us and 
the people or Parliament of Great 
Britain ; and finally we do assert 
and declare these colonics to be free 
mid independent states] and that, as 
free and independent states, they 
have full power to levy war, con- 
clude peace, contract alliances, es- 
tablish commerce, and to do all 
other acts and things which inde- 
pendent states may of right do. 
And for the support of this declara- 
tion, we mutually pledge to each 
other our lives, our fortunes, and 
our sacred honor. 



absolved from all allegiance to the 
British crown, and that all political 
connexion between them and the 
state of Great Britain is, and ought 
to be, totally dissolved ; and that, 
as free and independent states, they 
have full power to levy war, con- 
clude peace, contract alliances, es- 
tablish commerce, and to do all 
other acts and things, which inde- 
pendent states may of right do. 

And for the support of this decla- 
ration, with a firm reliance on the 
protection of Divine Providence, we 
mutually pledge to each other our 
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor. 

Mr. Jefferson continued an active member of the second Congress, 
and was appointed, together with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, a Com- 
missioner to the Court of France, to negotiate treaties of alliance and 
commerce with that nation, but was compelled, on account of the state of 
his health, and other causes of a private nature, to decline the appoint- 
ment. During the year 1776, the people of Virginia had been occupied 
in forming a constitution and plan of government for that state, and now 
that the more important measures of Congress had been carried, and the 
bark of Independence fairly launched, and though still tossing upon a 
wide and tempestuous sea, was yet under the guidance of bold hearts and 
strong hands, Mr. Jefferson turned his attention to his native state, and 
thinking that he could be of more use in her counsels, resigned the seat 
to which he had been elected in the third Congress, in September, 1776, 
and having been returned a member of the state legislature, immediate- 
ly took his seat in that body in the following October. 

Early in the session, a committee was appointed in pursuance of a mo- 
tion made by Mr. Jefferson, to make a careful revision of the laws of the 
state. This committee consisted of Mr. .Jefferson, Edmund Pendleton, 
George Mason, Thomas L. Lee, and George Wythe, the former instructor 
of Jefferson, and afterwards Chancellor of Virginia. From this conmiit- 
tee Mr. Mason and Mr. Lee soon excused themselves, considering tiiem- 
selves as not qualified for the undertaking, on account of their not being 
lawyers. The work was therefore divided between the other three mem- 
bers, who in June, 1779, reported to the legislature a code of laws, 
comprised in the compass of one hundred and twenty -six bills. A few 
of these were from time to time passed by the legislature, as occasion or 
necessity rccjuired, but the greater part were deferred until alter the peace 
in 1785, when most of them were enacted with little alteration. 

The labors of Mr. Jefferson, while a member of this committee, were 
so various and so extensive, that it would be impossible to convey an 
adequate idea of them, without encroaching upon other matters, of equal 



110 JEFFERSON. 

importance, and, perchance, of more interest. Mr. Jefferson has perhaps 
been considered by many, as an innovator; as too fond of destroying the 
old established customs and laws of society, and substituting in their 
place, the fanciful theories of his own brain. He had, it is true, no 
veneration for old laws and customs, merely because they were old ; he 
looked alone to their justice, and their adaptedness to human nature, and 
the existing state of things ; and if he found not those qualities in them, 
their antiquity was no protection. He was not willing to live under a bad 
law, because his fithers had done so, when a better one could be obtain- 
ed. But whether the charge of love of innovation be just or not, it must 
be confessed by all, (hat the alterations introduced by his means, into the 
constitution and laws of Virginia, were changes of the most beneficial 
nature. Many of these were important, as tending to abolish those cus- 
toms of the old countries, which, whenever introduced, or suffered to re- 
main in a newly established nation, must prove serious obstructions to its 
growth and prosperity — such, for instance, as the laws converting estates 
tail into fee-;Minple, abolishing the right of primogeniture, and establish- 
ing the freedom of religious opinion. To these may be added the laws 
for the general establishment of schools, and the abolishment of the slave 
trade — all these were proposed, and eventually carried, though with modi- 
fications in some cases, almost exclusively by the exertions of Mr. Jeffer- 
son. " I considered," says Mr. Jefferson, " four of these bills, passed 
or reported, as forming a system, by which every fibre would be eradi- 
cated, of ancient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a go- 
vernment truly republican. The repeal of the laws of entail, would pre- 
vent the accumulation and perpetuation of wealth, in select families, and 
preserve the soil of the country from being daily more and more absorbed 
in mortmain. The abolition of primogeniture, and equal partition of 
inlieritanccs, removed the feudal and unnatural distinctions which made 
one member of every family rich, and all the rest poor, substituting equal 
partition, the best of all Agrarian laws. The restoration of the rights of 
conscience, relieved the people from taxation, for the support of a religion 
not theirs; for the establishment" (that is, of the Church of England,) 
" was truly the religion of the rich, the dissenting sects being entirely 
composed of the less wealthy people ; and tliese, by the bill for a general 
education, would be qualified to understand their rights, to maintain 
them, and to exercise with intelligence their parts in self government : 
and all this would be effected, witliout the violation of a single natural 
right, of any one individual citizen." 

In June, 1779, Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to Mr. Henry, as 
Governor of Virginia, a situation of peculiar difficulty, to one so entirely 
unused to military matters. Yet even here his genius showed itself 
equal to every emergency, and every thing was done by him that could 
be, to protect the state from the attacks made by the traitor Arnold 
on the seaboard, and Tarlton and Cornwallis on the southern frontier: 
but in 1781, the term for which he was elected having expired, believing 
that the people would be better satisfied with having^'a military man at 
the head of affairs, and the defence of the country better conducted, he 
resigned the office and was succeeded by General Nelson. 



JEFFERSON. Ill 

But two days after his resignation, Mr. Jefferson narrowly escaped 
being made a prisoner by Tarlton, who, with his regiment of horse, had 
been despatched by Lord Cornwallis, for the purpose of surprising the 
Governor, and the members of the Assembly, then in session at Charlottes- 
ville. Notice of the approach of the enemy was, however, brought to 
Charlottesville so early, that the members had time to escape. 

Mr. Jefferson was at breakfast with his family and some guests, when 
the intelligence of this movement was received at Monticello. He im- 
mediately sent off his family to a place of safety, while he himself re- 
mained to make some arrangements in his house, and while so occupied, 
a neighbor rode up to inform him that the enemy were then actually 
ascending the hill at full speed, and so near were they, that he had barely 
time to throw himself upon his horse and plunge into the woods, by 
which means he escaped the search that was made for him. 

Soon after Mr. Jefferson's retirement from office, however, some mem- 
bers of the then legislature, believing, or pretending to believe, that he 
had been remiss, and culpably negligent, in the measures which he had 
adopted for the defence of the seaboard, at the time of Arnold's descent 
upon Richmond, moved for an investigation of his conduct. To this 
neither Mr. Jefferson or his friends made any opposition, and at the ses- 
sion of the legislature, when the investigation was to have taken place, 
the movers, convinced that there was no ground for complaint, wholly de- 
clined the firther prosecution of the charges. 

It has been a distinguishing feature in the' lives of some of the most 
celebrated characters the world has ever produced, that, amidst the con- 
fusion of war or the cares of state, they have still, with that true econo- 
my so little understood, the economy of minutrs, found time to devote to 
the cause of literature and science. It was so with Mr. Jefferson at this 
period. Notwithstanding the conspicuous part he had taken in public 
affairs, and the laborious duties he had been called upon to perform, 
amidst all tlie tumult of a civil war, he had still found time for works of a 
more peaceful nature. During the year 1781, M. de Marbois, Secretary 
of tlie French Legation in the United States, having been instructed by 
his own Court, to obtain all useful statistical information concerning the 
American States, that was in his power, addressed some inquiries to Mr. 
Jefferson, concerning Virginia. Mr. Jefferson had ever been in the 
habit of committing to writing, all the information he could at any time 
collect, and the numerous memoranda he had in this way obtained, now 
furnished liim with materials for his answers to M. de Marbois' questions, 
These he replied to at great length, giving a most interesting statement 
of the natural history, the soil, productions, institutions, and statistics of 
his native state. This work was afterwards published l)y him, under the 
title of " Notes on Virginia." 

But in those times of emergency and danger, talents of so high an 
order as Mr. Jefferson's, could not long be spared by his country, and 
she therefore soon made a new call for his services. In the early part of 
1781, Mr. Jefferson had been appointed^ Minister Plenipotentiary, to- 
gether with Mr. Adams, Mr. Jay, Mr. Laurens, and Dr. Franklin, for 
the negotiation of peace which was then expected to take place. His ill 



112 JEFFERSON. 

health, and the situation of affairs at home, however, compelled him to 
decline the appointment, and no progress was ever made in regard to the 
treaty. In 1782, he was again appointed a commissioner for the same 
purpose, and the hope of promoting the public interests, and at the same 
time of restoring his own health by a change of climate, induced him to 
accept the appointment ; but before his embarkation, news was received 
that the preliminaries of peace had already been signed by the other 
ministers, and he was therefore excused. 

In 1783 and 4, we find Mr. Jefferson again in Congress, and active in 
all important measures, especially as chairman of the committee upon the 
state of the treasury, and also of the committee to which was referred the 
definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, 
which was finally ratified by this Congress, on the fourteenth January, 
1784. On the seventh May, of the same year, in pursuance of a vote of 
Congress, Mr. Jefferson was appointed, together with Mr. Adams, and 
Dr. Franklin, who were then in Europe, a Minister Plenipotentiary for 
the purpose of forming treaties of commerce with foreign nations, and 
accordingly embarked, with his eldest daughter, at Boston, on the fifth 
of July, and, after a pleasant voyage, arrived at Paris on the sixth of 
August, where he was immediately joined by Dr. Franklin, and soon 
after by Mr. Adams. The commissioners were by no means as suc- 
cessful in their attempts to form treaties, as had been anticipated, and at 
the end of a year, spent in almost fruitless negotiations, the only powers 
with whom treaties had been effected, were Prussia and Morocco, and 
their commission e.xpired without any thing of importance having been 
accomplished. 

In February, 1786, Mr. Jefferson, who had been previously appointed 
to succeed Dr. Franklin, as Minister to France, at the solicitation of Mr. 
Adams, then at the Court of St. James, went over to England, in the 
hope of effecting a treaty of commerce with that nation : how dis- 
couraging was his reception, can best be learnt from his own words. 
" On my presentation," says he, " as usual, to the King and Queen at 
their levees, it was impossible for any thing to be more ungracious, than 
their notice of Mr. Adams and myself I saw at once, that the ulcera- 
tions of mind in that quarter, left nothing to be expected on the subject 
of my attendance; and on the first conference with the Marquis of 
Caermarthen, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the distance and disinclina- 
tion which he betrayed in his conversation, the vagueness and evasions 
of his answers to us, confirmed me in the belief of their aversion to have 
any thing to do with us." Mr. Jefferson, therefore, finding his visit fruit- 
less, returned to Paris on the thirtieth of April, after an absence of seven 
weeks. 

It would be useless, in this hasty sketch, to attempt to give any account 
of the various diplomatic transactions in which Mr. Jefferson was engag- 
ed, during his residence in France, a period of little more than five ye'ars, 
from August, 1784, to October, 1789, especially, as they would not be 
of great interest to the general reader. As the representative of a new 
country at a foreign court, there was, of course, much to be done by him, 
yet there was nothing which required the exercise of any great talents or 



JEFFERSON. 113 

powers of mind, at least when compared with the scenes of deep and 
eventful interest through which we have lately followed him ; and after 
contemplating such scenes and such transactions, the mere details of 
business and diplomatic negotiations must necessarily appear dull and 
even insignificant. But the years passed by Mr. Jefferson in Europe, 
although not now so interesting to most readers, as the other periods of 
his life, was still one of great enjoyment to him. Fond as he had ever been 
of science, the stirring scenes in which he had been called to take so 
conspicuous a part, had allowed him little time for study and investiga- 
tion : that time, it is true, had been carefully employed, but he now found 
full opportunity for the free indulgence of his literary and scientific tastes. 
In the most polite court in Europe, surrounded by the most learned men 
of the age, honored and esteemed by them, not only as a statesman, but 
as a philosopher, he led a life most congenial to a mind like his, so eager 
in the pursuit of knowledge, and so capable of enjoying all that was 
elegant and refined. He was, too, the friend of Franklin, and so great 
was the enthusiasm felt by the French people for that remarkable man, 
that to be his friend, was of itself, apart fr«m all other circumstances of 
public character, a sufficient passport to the society and friendship of 
Condorcet, Buffon, D'Alembert, and all the wise and learned of the 
French capital. To the happiness Mr. Jefferson experienced there, and 
the many pleasant attachments formed there, must be in part attributed 
the strong preference he ever afterwards exhibited towards that nation. 
In his memoirs, when speaking of his departure from France on his re- 
turn to America, he adds, " And here I cannot leave this great and 
good country, without expressing my sense of its preeminence of charac- 
ter among the nations of the earth. A more benevolent people I have 
never known, nor greater warmth and devotedness in their select friend- 
ships. Their kindness and accommodation to strangers is unparalleled, 
and the hospitality of Paris is beyond any thing I had conceived to be 
practical)le in a large city. Their eminence too in science, the commu- 
nicative dispositions of their scientific men, the politeness of the general 
manners, the ease and vivacity of their conversation, give a charm to 
their society, to be found no where else. In a comparison of this with 
other countries, we have the proof of primacy, which was given to The- 
mistocles after the battle of Salamis. Every general voted to himself the 
first reward of valor, and the second to Themistocles. So, ask the trav- 
elled inhabitant of any nation. In what country on earth would you rather 
live ? Certainly in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and 
the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which 
would be your second choice ? France." 

Yet notwithstanding his love of France and its society, America still 
held the first place in his heart, and, amidst all the refinement and l(>arn- 
ing of Paris, he often sighed for the retirement of Monticello. In a letter 
to the Baron Geismer, dated at Paris, September sixth, 1785, he says, 
" The character in which 1 am here, at present, confines me to this 
place, and will confine me as long as I continue in Europe. IIow long 
this will he, I cannot tell. I am now of an age, which does not easily 
accommodate itself to new manners and new modes of living, and I am 
15 



114 JEFFERSON. 

savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds, and the independence of 
Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures of this gay capital. I shall 
therefore rejoin myself to my native country, with new attachments, and 
with exaggerated esteem for its advantages ; for though there is less 
wealth there, there is more freedom, more ease, and less misery." 

Mr. Jefferson was naturally led, during his residence in Europe, to com- 
pare the state of the French people, their advancement in morals, in 
science, and the arts of life, with his own countrymen. As a citizen of a 
new republic, where perfect freedom of religious opinions existed, and 
where the only end of government was to improve the people, and deeply 
anxious as to the result of the great experiment which was then on trial, 
Whether the people could rule themselves ? — he was constantly watching 
the effects of the government, and the long established institutions of 
France, on the character and happiness of the people, and instituting 
comparisons between the inhabitants of that and of his own land ; and 
although America was even then suffering all the evils which a long and 
bloody war, carried on in the midst of her own territories, had inflicted 
on her. the result of his observations was uniformly in her favor. In a 
letter to Mr. Bellini, dated Paris, 1785, he thus expresses himself — " Be- 
hold me at length on the vaunted scene of Europe ! It is not necessary 
for your information, that I should enter into details concerning it. But 
you are, perhaps, curious to know how this new scene has struck a sa- 
vage of the mountains of America. Not advantageously, I assure you. 
I find the general fate of humanity here most deplorable. The truth of 
Voltaire's observation offers itself perpetually, that every man here must 
be either the hammer or the anvil. While the great mass of the people 
are thus suffering under physical and moral oppression, I have endeavor- 
ed to examine more nearly the condition of the great, to appreciate the 
true value of the circumstances in their situation, which dazzle the bulk 
of spectators, and, especially, to compare it with that degree of happiness 
which is enjoyed in America by every class of people. Intrigues of love 
occupy the younger, and those of ambition the elder part of the great. 
Conjugal love having no existence among them, domestic happiness, of 
which that is the basis, is utterly unknown. In lieu of this, are substitut- 
ed pursuits which nourish and invigorate all our bad passions, and which 
offer only moments of ecstacy, amidst days and months of restlessness 
and torment. Much, very much inferior, this, to the tranquil, perma- 
nent felicity, with which domestic society in America blesses most of its 
inhabitants ; leaving them to follow steadily those pursuits which health 
and reason approve, and rendering truly delicious the intervals of those 
pursuits. 

" In science the mass of the people is two centuries behind ours ; their 
literati, half a dozen years before us. With respect to what are termed 
polite manners, without sacrificing too much the sincerity of language, I 
would wish my countrymen to adopt just so much of European politeness, 
as to be ready to make all those little sacrifices of self, which really ren- 
der European manners amiable, and relieve society from the disagreeable 
scenes to which rudeness often subjects it. Here, it seems that a man 
jnight pass a life without encountering a single rudeness. In the plea- 



JEFFERSON. 115 

sures of the table they are far before us, because with good taste they unite 
temperance. They do not terminate the most sociable meals by trans- 
forming themselves into brutes. I have never yet seen a man drunk in 
France, even among the lowest of the people. Were I to proceed to tell you 
how much I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting, music, I should 
want words. It is in these acts they shine. The last of them, particu- 
larly, is an enjoyment, the deprivation of which with us cannot be calcu- 
lated. I am almost ready to say, it is the only thing which from my 
heart I envy them, and which, in spite of all the authority of the Deca- 
logue, I do covet." 

In another letter to Mr. Wythe, dated Paris, August, 178G, when 
speaking of the revision of the laws in which the Assembly of Virginia 
had been engaged, he writes — " I think, by far the most important bill 
in our whole code, is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the peo- 
ple. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of 
freedom and happiness. If any body thinks that kings, nobles, or 
priests, are good conservators of the public happiness, send him here. It 
is the best school in the universe, to cure him of that folly. He will see 
here with his own eyes, that these descriptions of men are an abandoned 
confederacy against the happiness of the mass of the people. The om- 
nipotence of their effect cannot be better proved, than in this country 
particularly, where notwithstanding the finest soil upon earth, the finest 
climate under heaven, and a people of the most benevolent, the most gay 
and amiable character, of which the human form is susceptible; where 
such a people, I say, surrounded by so many blessings from nature, are 
loaded with misery by kings, nobles, and priests, and by them alone. 
Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance ; establish and im- 
prove the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen 
know, that the people alone can protect us against these evils, and that 
the tax which will be paid for this purpose, is not more than the thou- 
sandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles, who will 
rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance." 

During Mr. Jefferson's residence in Europe, his official duties demand- 
ed so much of his attention, and confined him so closely to Paris, that he 
had few opportunities for visiting the other parts of the continent. We 
have already mentioned, that soon after his appointment, at the request 
of Mr. Adams, and in the hope of effecting a con)mercial treaty with 
England, he visited London. He also went to the Hague at a later 
period, to meet Mr. Adams, for the purpose of negotiating a loan to Con- 
gress, and returned thence along the banks of the Rhine. In the early 
part of 1787, having suffered much from a dislocated wrist, he was in 
duced to try the warm mineral springs of Aix, in Provence, in the hope 
that tiiey would prove beneficial, but not finding them of the service he 
had expecte<l, he took the opportunityto visit the southern provinces of 
France, and the northern parts of Italy ; and the short journal he has left 
us, is enough to make us regret that he had not possessed more leisure, 
or that fortune had not made him a traveller. 

While in Paris, Mr. Jefferson became acquainted with Ledyard, the 
celeorated American traveller, who had come there with the intention of 



116 JEFFERSON. 

forming a company for the prosecution of the fur trade on the northwest 
coast, and in which plan he found an active coadjutor in Paul Jones, 
who was at that time in France. Not succeeding in this, Mr. Jefferson 
suggested to him the idea of a journey through the Russian dominions to 
Kamschatka ; thence to cross to Nootka Sound, and return across the 
continent of America to the United States. This plan was readily adopt- 
ed by Ledyard, who was eager for any expedition of discovery, whether 
to the frozen regions of Siberia, or the burning deserts of Africa. Mr. 
Jefferson accordingly undertook to obtain the permission of the Empress 
Catharine, for him to journey through her dominions. This, however, 
was peremptorily refused by the Empress. But Ledyard, once started in 
an enterprise, was not to be deterred by an obstacle of this nature ; he 
therefore left Paris for St. Petersburg, thinking that in person he might 
obtain the necessary permission. Not finding the Empress at St. Peters- 
burg, and unwilling to suffer any delay, he proceeded without it, and had 
actually arrived on the banks of the Lena, and within a few days' journey 
of Kamschatka, when he was overtaken by officers despatched after him, 
brought back to the frontiers of Russia, and there dismissed. 

Hitherto we have regarded Mr. Jefferson merely as a statesman, but it 
is not in this light only that he is to be viewed. During all the time of 
his residence abroad, the numerous letters to his friends in America, de- 
tailing all the new discoveries made in science and the arts, prove how 
deeply he was interested in those subjects ; and the following letter will 
show how readily he could turn from the cares of state, to familiar inter- 
course of the lightest and most sportive kind. Of the lady to whom it 
was addressed we know nothing, but we are confident its playfulness and 
the goodness of heart which it exhibits, will prove an ample apology for 
the length of the extract. 

" To Mrs. Cosavay. 

" Paris, October 12, 1786. 
" My dear Madam, 

" Having performed the last sad office of handing you into your car- 
riage, at the pavilion de St. Denis, and seen the wheels get actually into 
motion, I turned on my heel and walked, more dead than alive, to the 
opposite door, where my own was awaiting me. Mr. Danquerville was 
missing. He was sought for, found, and dragged down stairs. We were 
crammed into the carriage, like recruits for the Bastile ; and not having 
soul enough to give orders to the coachman, he presumed Paris our des- 
tination, and drove off. After a considerable interval, silence was broke, 
with a " Je sids vraiment crfflige dii depart dc ces hons gens." This was 
a signal for mutual confession of distress. We began immediately to 
talk of Mr. and Mrs. Cosway, of their goodness, their talents, their amia- 
bility ; and though we spoke of nothing else, we seemed hardly to have 
entered into the matter, when the coachman announced the Rue St. 
Denis, and that we were opposite Mr. Danquerville's. He insisted on 
descending there, and traversing a short passage to his lodgings, I was 
carried home. Seated by my fireside, solitary and sad, the follow injj 
dialogue took place between my Head and my Heart. 

" Head. Well, friend, you seem to be in a pretty trim. 



JEFFERSON. 117 

" Heart. I am indeed the most wretched of all earthly beings. Over- 
whelmed with grief, every fibre of my frame distended beyond its natural 
powers to bear, I would willingly meet whatever catastrophe should leave 
me no more to feel or to fear. 

" Head. These are the eternal consequences of your warmth and pre- 
cipitation. This is one of the scrapes into which you are ever leading 
us. You confess your follies, indeed ; but still you hug and cherish 
them ; and no reformation can be hoped, where there is no repentance. 

" Heart. Oh ! my friend, this is no moment to upbraid my foibies. I 
am rent into fragments by the force of my grief ! If you have #ny balm, 
pour it into my wounds ; if none, do not harrow them by new torments. 
Spare me in this awful moment. At any other, I will attend with pa- 
tience to your admonitions. 

" Head. On the contrary, I never found that the moment oT triumph, 
with you, was the moment of attention to my admonitions. While suffer- 
ing under your follies, you may perhaps be made sensible of them ; but 
the paroxysm over, you fancy it can never return. Harsh, therefore, as 
the medicine may be, it is my office to administer it. * * * * * 
* * * * J yyisy, tQ make you sensible how imprudent it is to place 
your affections without reserve on objects you must so soon lose, and 
whose loss, when it comes, must cost you such severe pangs. Remember 
the last night. You knew your friends were to leave Paris to-day. This 
was enough to throw you into agonies. All night you tossed us from one 
side of the bed to the otlier ; no sleep, no rest. The poor crippled wrist, 
too, never left one moment in the same position ; now up, now down, now 
here, now there ; was it to be wondered at if its pains returned ? The 
surgeon then was to be called, and to be rated as an ignoramus, because 
he could not divine the cause of this extraordinary change. In fine, my 
iriend, you must mend your manners. This is not a world to live at 
random in, as you do. To avoid those eternal distresses, to which you 
are forever exposing us, you must learn to look forward before you take a 
step, which may interest our peace. Every thing in this world is matter 
of calculation. Advance, then, with caution ; the balance in your hand. 
Put into one scale the pleasures which any object may offer ; but put 
fairly into the other the pains which are to follow, and see which prepon- 
derates. The making an acquaintance is not a matter of indifference. 
When a new one is proposed to you, view it all round. Consider what 
advantages it presents, and to what inconveniences it may expose you. 
Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath 
it. The art of life is the art of avoiding pain ; and he is the best pilot, 
who steers clearest of the rocks and shoals with which it is be.set. Pleasure 
is always before us, but misfortune is at our side ; while running after 
that, this arrests us. The most effectual means of being secure against 
pam, is to retire within ourselves, and to suffice for our own happiness. 
Those which depend on ourselves, are the only pleasures a wise man will 
count on ; for nothing is our own, which another may deprive us of. 
Hence the inestimable value of intellectual pleasures. Ever in our own 
power, always leading us to something new, never cloying, we ride secure 
and sublime above the concerns of this mortal world, contemplating truth 



118 JEFFERSON. 

and nature, matter and motion, the laws which bind up their existenco, 
and that eternal Being, who made and bound them up by those laws. 
Let this be our employ. Leave the bustle and tumult of society to those 
who have not talents to occupy themselves without them. Friendship is 
but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of 
others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient. Why enter, then, as 
volunteers into those of another? Is there so little gall poured into our 
cup, that we must need help to drink that of our neighbor? A friend 
dies or leaves us : we feel as if a limb was cut off. He is sick : we must 
watch over him and participate of his pains. His fortune is shipwrecked : 
ours must be laid under contribution. He loses a child, a parent, or a 
partner : we must mourn the loss as if it were our own. 

Heart. And what more sublime delight, than to mingle tears with 
one whom Ihe hand of Heaven hath smitten ! to watch over the bed of 
sickness, and to beguile its tedious and its painful moments ! to share 
our bread with one to whom misfortune has left none ! This world 
abounds indeed with misery; to lighten its burden, we must divide it with 
one another. But let us now try the virtue of your mathematical balance ; 
and as you have put into one scale the burdens of friendship, let me put 
its comforts into the other. When languishing, then, under disease, how 
grateful is the solace of our friends ! how are we penetrated with their 
assiduities and attentions ! how much are we supported by their encourage- 
ments and kind offices ! When Heaven has taken from us some object 
of our love, how sweet is it to have a bosom whereon to recline our heads, 
and into which we may pour the torrent of our tears ! Grief with such a 
comfort is almost a luxury. In a life where we are perpetually exposed 
to want and accident, yours is a wonderful proposition, to insulate our- 
selves, to retire from all aid, and to wrap ourselves in the mantle of self- 
sufficiency ! For assuredly, nobody will care for him, who cares for 
nobody. But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the 
sunshine of life ; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the 
greater part of life is sunshine. I will recur for proof to the days we have 
lately passed. On these, indeed, the sun shone brightly ! How gay did 
the face of nature appear ! Hills, valleys, chateaux, gardens, rivers, every 
object wore its liveliest hue ! Whence did they borrow it ? From the 
presence of our charming companion. They were pleasing, because she 
seemed pleased. Alone, the scene would have been dull and insipid : 
the participation of it with her gave it relish. Let the gloomy monk, 
sequestered from the world, seek unsocial pleasures in the bottom of his 
cell ! Let the sublimated philosopher grasp visionary happiness, while 
pursuing phantoms dressed in the garb of truth ! Their supreme wisdom 
is supreme folly, and they mistake for happiness the mere absence of pain. 
Had they ever felt the solid pleasure of one generous spasm of the heart, 
they would exchange for it all the frigid speculations of their lives, which 
you have been vaunting in such elevated terms. Believe me, then, my 
friend, that that is a miserable arithmetic, which could estimate friendship 
at nothing, or at less than nothing. Respect for you has induced me to 
enter into this discussion, and to hear principles uttered, which I detest 
and abjure. Respect for myself now obliges me to recall you into the 



JEFFERSON. 119 

proper limits of your office. When nature assigned us the same habita- 
tion, she gave us over it a divided empire. To you she allotted the field 
of science, to me that of morals. When the circle is to be squared, or 
the orbit of a comet is to be traced, when the arch of greatest strength or 
the solid of least resistance is to be investigated, take up the problem ; it 
is yours ; nature has given me no cognizance of it. In like manner, in 
denying to you the feelings of sympathy, of benevolence, of gratitude, of 
justice, of love, of friendship, she has excluded you from their control. 
To these she has adapted the mechanism of the heart. Morals were too 
essential to the happiness of man, to be risked on the uncertain combina- 
tions of the head. She laid their foundation, therefore, in sentiment, not 
in science. That she gave to all, as necessary to all ; this to a few only, 
as sufiicingwith a few. I know, indeed, that you pretend authority to the 
sovereign control of our conduct in all its parts ; and a respect for your 
grave saws and maxims, a desire to do what is right, has sometimes 
induced me to conform to your counsels. A few facts, however, which I 
can readily recall to your memory, will suffice to prove to you, that nature 
has not organized you for our moral direction. When the poor wearied 
soldier, whom we overtook at Chickahominy, with his pack on his back, 
begged us to let him get up behind our chariot, you began to calculate 
that the road was full of soldiers, and that if all should be taken up, our 
horses would fail in their journey. We drove on therefore. But soon 
becoming sensible you had made me do wrong, that though we cannot 
relieve all the distressed, we should relieve as many as we can, I turned 
about to take up the soldier, but he had entered a by-path, and was no 
more to be found ; and from that moment to this, I could never find him 
out to ask his forgiveness. Again, when the poor woman came to ask 
charity in Philadelphia, you whispered that she looked like a drunkard, 
and that half a dollar was enough to give her for the alehouse. Those 
who want the dispositions to give, easily find reasons why they ought not 
to give. When I sought her out afterwards, and did what I should have 
done at first, you know that she employed the money immediately towards 
placing her child at school. If our country, when pressed with wrongs 
at the point of the bayonet, had been governed by its heads instead of its 
hearts, where should we have been now ? Hanging on a gallows as high 
asHaman's. You began to calculate, and to compare wealth and numbers; 
we threw up a few pulsations of our blood ; we supplied enthusiasm against 
wealth and numbers ; we put our existence to the hazard, when the hazard 
seemed against us, and we saved our country : justifying, at the same time, 
the ways of Providence, whose precept is to do always what is right, and 
leave the issue to Him. In short, my friend, as far as my recollection serves 
me, I do not know that I ever did a good thing on your suggestion, or a 
dirty one without it. I do forever, then, disclaim your interference in my 
province. Fill paper as you please with triangles and squares ; try how 
many ways you can hang and combine them together : I shall never envy 
nor control your sublime delights. But leave me to decide when and where 
friendships are to be contracted. You say I contract them at random. 
So you said the woman at Philadelphia was a drunkard. I receive none 
into my esteem, till I know they are worthy of it. Wealth, title, office, 



120 JEFFERSON. 

are no recommendations to my friendship. On the contrary, great good 
qualities are requisite to make amends for their having wealth, title, and 
office. You confess that, in the present case, I could not have made a 
worthier choice. You only object that I was so soon to lose them. We 
are not immortal ourselves, my friend; how can we expect our enjoyments 
to be so ? We have no rose without its thorn, no pleasure without its alloy. 
It is the law of our existence, and we must acquiesce. It is the condition 
annexed to all our pleasure, not by us who receive, but by Him who gives 
them. True, this condition is pressing cruelly on me at this moment. I 
feel more fit for death than life ; but when I look back on the pleasures 
of which it is the consequence, I am conscious they were worth the price 
I am paying. Notwithstanding your endeavors, too, to damp my hopes, 
I comfort myself with expectations of their promised return. Hope is 
sweeter than despair, and they were too good to mean to deceive me. 
" In the summer," said the gentleman ; but " in the spring," said the 
lady; and I should love her forever, were it only for that. Know then, 
my friend, that I have taken these good people into my bosom ; that I 
have lodged them in the warmest eel' I could find; that I love them, and 
will continue to love them through life ; that if fortune should dispose 
them on one side the globe and me on the other, my affections shall 
pervade its whole mass to reach them. Knowing, then, my determina- 
tion, attempt not to disturb it. If you can at any time furnish matter for 
their amusement, it will be the office of a good neighbor to do it. I will, 
in like manner, seize any occasion which may offer, to do the like good 
turn for you with Condorcet, Rittenhouse, Madison, La Cretelle, or any 
other of those worthy sons of science, whom you so justly prize. 

" I thought this a favorable proposition whereon to rest the issue of the 
dialogue. So I put an end to it l)y calling for my nightcap. Methinks, 
I hear you wish to Heaven t had called a little sooner, and so spared you 
the iniiui of such a sermon." 

In October, 17>^!), Mr. Jefferson having obtained from government the 
permission he had long solicited, to return home for a short time, em- 
barked at Havre for the United States. It was not his intention, at that 
time, to resign liis station at the Court of Versailles. France, ever a de- 
sirable residence lo him, was at this time an object of the strongest inte- 
rest. The flame of revolution which had been kindled in America had 
already touched the shores of Eurojie, and the spirit of republicanism was 
rapidly spreading tlirougli all classes of people in France. To Mr. Jef- 
ferson, to the citizen of a country, itself just emancipated, just escaped 
from servitude, the struggle which was now rapidly approaching between 
the people and the throne, between liberty and long established oppres- 
sion, was one of peculiar interest, desirous as he must have been to see 
the rights and principles for which he had so successfully contended in 
America, transplanted and flourishing in the soil of Europe. It was 
therefore his intention, after a short visit to his native country, to return 
and resume his oflice. Immediately, however, upon his arrival at Nor- 
folk, in the latter part of November, he was met by a letter from General 
Washington, containing an appointment to be Secretary of State. To 
this Mr. Jefferson replied, stating his desire to return to France, but at 



JEFFERSON. 121 

the same time assuring the President of his willingness to remain, could 
his services be more beneficial to his country at home. A second letter 
from the President, expressing the same wish as the former, but giving 
him the choice of the two situations, induced him to forego his own in- 
clinations, and accept the appointment. During Mr. Jefferson's long 
absence, great changes had taken place in the United States. The 
country which he had left five years before, just emerging from a pro- 
tracted and exhausting war, without a government, and in almost as 
great danger from the internal dissensions, which were naturally to be 
expected among a people so peculiarly situated, as she had previously 
been, from external enemies, he now beheld flourishing, and happy, and 
rapidly increasing in wealth and population. During that interval, the 
Federal Constitution had been adopted, a government organized, and at 
its head the gratitude of a free people had placed that man, who had so 
successfully conducted her armies, and who, as the first President of the 
Western Republic, proved himself as wise in counsel, as he had before 
shown himself victorious in war. 

Mr. Jefferson immediately entered upon the duties of his station, and 
during his continuance in office, he ever discharged them with the 
greatest zeal and ability. We can here, of course, speak only in general 
terms : to enter into a detail of the whole course of his administration 
"^A'ould be impossible, without at the same time writing the political histo- 
ry of the country. The duties assumed by him were of the most arduous 
and responsible nature, embracing the superintendance. both of domestic 
affairs, and of foreign relations : and they were at that time more difficult 
from the infancy both of the office and the government. Nevertheless, 
our intercourse with foreign nations, for the management of which, Mr. 
Jefferson was eminently qualified by his former diplomatic experience, 
was so conducted, that the interests and rights of the citizen were pro- 
tected, and the honor and dignity of the nation supported, without 
any infringement of the rights of others ; and in the home department, 
the numerous reports and state papers on subjects of the highest impor- 
tance, which from time to time he laid before Congress, furnish abun- 
dant proof of his talents and industry. 

At the close of the year 1793, Mr. Jefferson, finding himself one of an 
administration, from a majority of whose members he differed in views, 
which were every day becoming of more and more importance, and that 
he could not consistently act with them, in the measures which would be 
adopted, especially in regard to our foreign relations, retired from the 
office of Secretary of State. Party spirit, never long asleep in any coun- 
try, and least of all in a republic, had already risen high in America, and 
the whole body of the people, from the first statesman in the cabinet, 
down to the merest village alehouse politician, were ranged under the 
banners of one or the other of the contending parties. To that one 
of these parties, known by the name of Democratic, Mr. Jefferson found 
himself strongly drawn by the whole course of his previous habits and 
opinions. The other members of the cabinet, however, were attached 
to the opposite party ; and Mr. Jefferson, therefore, thought himself call- 
ed upon to withdraw. 

16 



122 JEFFERSON. 

For a time, therefore, Mr. JefTerson retired from public life, and de- 
voted himself to the cultivation of his estate, and to those literary and 
scientific pursuits of vvliich he was so fond ; and at Monticello, in the 
bosom of ills family, and undisturbed by the calls of ollice, he experienced, 
for a few years, the domestic happiness and quiet, he was so well fitted to 
enjoy. He was about this time, too, chosen President of the American 
Philosophical Society, as successor to Rittenhousc, and, for the long 
period that lie filled the chair, was active in promoting, in every way '\r\ 
his power, the prosperity of the institution. Mr. Jefferson, however, was 
not long permitted to remain a private citizen. In September, 1790, 
General Washington, the only person who could unite the ail'ections of 
the whole j)eople, in his Farewell Address to the people of the United 
States, declined being any longer considered a candidate for the ollice 
of Chief Magistrate. Tiie two great parties, into which the nation was 
divided, therefore, immediately brought forward their candidates. Mr. 
Adams was nominated by the one, and Mr. Jefferson by the other; and 
at the election which took place in the fall of that year, Mr. Adams was 
chosen President, and Mr. Jeffer.son Vice-President, for the four years 
next ensuing. As the jjrincipal duty of tiie Vice-President, unless in 
case of the death of the President, is mer(;Iy to preside in tlie Senate, 
inucii of these four years, except during the sessions of Congress, was 
spent by Mr. Jefferson in tiie tranquillity of Monticello. 

In 181)1, Mr. Jefferson, who had again been nominated as a candidate, 
in opposition to Mr. Adams, received a majority of the votes of the j)eo- 
ple. But as the number of votes given for Mr. Jefferson and for Mr. 
Burr, who had been nominated by tlie democratic party lor Vice-Presi- 
dent, were equal, and the constitution did not require that the votes 
should specify the ollice to which each one was respectively elected, 
neither iiaving such a majority as was necessary to a choice, the election 
devolved upon the House of Re})resentatives. When the election came 
on, tiie opponents of Mr. Jefferson tlircw their votes for Mr. Burr, and it 
was not until after thirty-five unsuccessful ballots, that Mr. Jctferson was 
elected President, and Mr. Burr became, of course, Vice-President. 

On the fourth of Marcli, 1801, Mr. Jeffeison took tlie oatli of office, 
and delivered iiis inaugural addrt^ss in presence of botli houses of Con- 
gress. After declaring his diffidence and distrust of his own powers, in 
the conduct of the affairs of so vast a nation, he thus ex])resses the iiope 
that all parties would unite in tlie support of the government and tlie 
union. " Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite witli one heart and one 
mind ; let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection, 
witiiout wliicli liberty, and even lile itself, are but drivuy things. And 
let us reflect tliat, having banished from our land that religious intolerance 
under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, 
if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic, as wicked, and 
capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and 
convulsions of the ancient world, during tlie agonizing spasms of infiiri- 
ated man, seeking tlirough blood and "slaugiiter liis long lost liberty, it 
was not wonderful that the agitation of tiie billows should reach even tiiis 
distant and peaceful shore ; that this should be more felt and feared by 



JEFFERSON. 123 

some, and less by others; and should divide opinions as to measures of 
safety ; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. 
We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We 
are all republicans; we are all federalists. If there be any among us who 
would wish to dissolve this union, or to change its republican form, let 
them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of 
opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. 1 know, 
indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot 
be strong ; that this government is not strong enough. IJut would the 
honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a govern- 
ment which has so far kept us free and ffrm, on the theoretic and vision- 
ary fear, that this government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, 
want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the con- 
trary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one, where 
every man, at the call of the law, would ffy to the standard of the law, 
and would meet invasionsof the public order as his own personal concern. 
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of 
himself Can he then be trusted with the government of others 'I Or 
have we found angels, in the form of kings, to govern him ? Let history 
answer this question." 

He then proceeds to give, in the following summary manner, a brief 
statement of the principles which were to be the rule of his administra- 
tion. " About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which 
comprehend every thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should 
understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and, 
consequently, those which ought to shape its administration. 1 will com- 
press them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the 
general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to 
all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; — peace, 
commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances 
with none ; — the support of the state governments in all their rights, as 
the most competent administrations for our dome.stic concerns, and the 
surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies ; — the preservation of 
the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet 
anchor of our peace at home, and safety abroad ; — a jealous care of the 
rights of election by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abu.ses which 
are lopped by the sword of revolution, wherj; peaceable remedies are un- 
provided ; — absolute accjuiesccnce in the decisions of the majority, the 
vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital 
principle and immediate parent of despotism ; — a well disciplined militia, 
our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars 
may relieve them ; — the supremacy of the civil over the military authority ; 
— economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened ; — 
the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of tlu; public 
faitli ; — encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; 
— the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar 
of till! j)ul)lic reason ; — freedom of religion, fretulom of the press, and 
freedom of person, under the protection of the habeas corjjus, and trials 
by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constel- 



124 JEFFERSON. 

lation which has gone before us, and guided our stops through an age of 
revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our 
heroes have been devoted to their attainment ; they should be the creed 
of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by 
which to try the services of those we trust ; — and should we wander from 
them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, 
and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety." 

The democratic party having now gained the ascendency in the 
national councils, the policy of the country underwent considerable 
changes. Of the merits of the different measures sanctioned and pur- 
sued by the respective administrations, it is not necessary here to speak ; 
the distinctions which then prevailed, and led to so much bitterness and 
hostility, are passed away, and the measures of government are now to 
be adjudged wise or unwise, beneficial or injurious, without reference to 
the party from which they emanated. The policy of Mr. Jefferson's ad- 
ministration, however, at that time, was so far approved, that in 1805, at 
the expiration of the term for which he had been chosen, he was reelect- 
ed to the chief magistracy by a large majority, notwithstanding all the 
exertions of the federal party. There can be no doubt that many of the 
acts of Mr. Jefferson were beneficial, and probably would be allowed to 
be so now, by those who, in the excitement of party, believed them to be 
destructive of the best interests of the country. Of this character is the 
purchase of Louisiana, and the annexation of all that fertile country to 
the United States, thereby giving us not only a vast extent of valuable 
territory, but what was also of the greatest importance, the undisputed 
navigation of the Mississippi, the great outlet of the west. Of others, as 
of the embargo of 1807, the expediency, to say the least, may be doubt- 
ful. Since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, perhaps no act of 
the government, at any period, has ever been more warmly supported by 
its friends, or more violently and unsparingly attacked by the opposition. 
The deep and continued aggressions of the two great belligerent powers 
of Europe, England and France, upon the neutral commerce of the 
country, after negotiation and remonstrance had been tried in vain, call- 
ed for more efficient measures for protection on the part of the govern- 
ment. 

These aggressions, by the injuries offered to our trade, especially with 
the British colonies, by the impressment of seamen and the numerous 
depredations on our coasts, had become so annoying, that, in December 
of 1805, Mr. Jefferson thus calls the attention of Congress to the subject. 
" Our coasts have been infested, and our harbors watched, by private 
armed vessels, some of them without commissions, some with illegal com- 
mis^sions, others with those of legal form, but committing piratical acts 
beyond the authority of their commissions. They have captured in the 
very entrance of our harbors, as well as on the high seas, not only the 
vessels of our friends coming to trade with us, but our own also. They 
have carried them off under pretence of legal adjudication, but, not daring 
to approach a court of justice, they have plundered and sunk them by the 
way, or in obscure places, where no evidence could arise against them, 
maltreated the crews, and abandoned them in boats in the open sea, or 



JEFFERSON. 125 

on desert shores, without food or covering. The same system of hovering 
on our coasts and harbors, under color of seeking enemies, has been also 
carried on by public armed ships, to the great annoyance and oppression 
of our commerce. Nevt^ principles, too, have been interpolated into the 
law of nations, founded neither in justice nor the usage or acknowledg- 
ment of nations. According to these, a belligerent takes to itself a com- 
merce with its own enemy, which it denies to a neutral, on the ground of 
its aiding that enemy in the war. But reason revolts at such an incon- 
sistency ; and the neutral having equal rights with the belligerent to 
decide the question, the interests of our constituents, and the duty of 
maintaining the authority of reason, the only umpire between just nations, 
impose on us the obligation of providing an effectual and determined 
opposition to a doctrine so injurious to the rights of peaceable nations. 
In consequence of these suggestions of the Executive, the first measures 
taken by Congress were the preparations for the defence of our coast in 
case of a war, and the non-importation act, passed in the early part of 
1806. Commissioners were also appointed at the several foreign courts, 
to make some adjustment of the existing difhculties, and prevent a repe- 
tition of such injuries. 

While these negotiations were pending, a most flagrant outrage, com- 
mitted by the British frigate Leopard upon the frigate Chesapeake, in our 
very waters, and almost in sight of our coast, produced the proclamation 
of the President of July second, 1807, requiring all British armed vessels, 
then within the waters of the United States, to depart, and forbidding 
them to enter. Scarcely, however, was this injury disavowed and offers 
of reparation made, when the British Orders in Council, of November of 
the same year, appeared. By these the British government prohibited all 
commerce between the United States and the ports of his enemies in 
Europe, unless the articles had been first landed in England, and the 
duties paid for their re-exportation. Under these circumstances, more 
decided measures were called for on the part of our government. Sub- 
mission was not for a moment thought of; and the only alternative was 
between open war, or such measures as should take us completely out of 
the power of our enemies and the operation of these orders. 

In the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, the country was not then in a situation 
to hazard a war ; and, therefore, the only means left to prevent the entire 
destruction of our commerce, was a prohibition of all intercourse, which it 
was supposed would have the desired effect, not only by keeping our own 
shipping in port, out of the way of the enemy, but by depriving them of the 
benefit of our commerce, thereby inducing them to come to some terms. 
Consequently, an embargo was laid on all our vessels, prohibiting their de- 
parture from any port of the United States, by an act of Congress, passed 
December twenty-second, 1807. The consideration, whether this mea- 
sure was expedient, or the best one which could be adopted, belongs to 
the political historian. 

The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second administration, was disturbed 
by an event, which thrciatened the tranquillity and peace of the union ; 
this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election to 
the Vice-Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled ambition, this 



126 JEFFERSON. 

extraordinary man formed the plan of a military expedition into the 
Spanish territories, on our southwestern frontier, for the purpose of form- 
ing there a new republic. This, however, as has been generally suppos- 
ed, was a mere pretext; and although it has never been accurately 
known what his real plans were, there is no doubt that they were of a far 
more dangerous character. The opinion generally received, is, that his 
object was to bring about a separation of the states west of the Allegha- 
nies from the general government, and form them into an independent 
state. The plan, however, whatever it might have been, was never ma- 
tured, for no sooner were the government apprized that bodies of men 
were organizing, and arming themselves for the avowed purpose of an 
attack upon a neighbormg government, then at peace with us, without 
the authority of Congress, than measures were taken to disperse those 
^\'ho had assembled, to seize their arms and stores, and to arrest the 
ringleaders. Immediately upon the discovery of the plan. Colonel Burr 
fled, but was soon overtaken, and brought back to Richmond, Virginia. 
Here he was examined before Chief Justice Marshall, upon a charge of 
high misdemeanor, in preparing, within the limits of the United States, an 
expedition against tlie Spanish provinces, and also on a charge of treason, 
and bound over for trial on the former, there not being suflicent evidence 
to justify a commitment on the latter, and upon the trial for the misde- 
meanor, in August, 1807, he was also acquitted for a like want of evi- 
dence. 

In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for which Mr. Jefferson 
had lieen elected, he determined to retire forever from political life. For 
a period of nearly forty years, he had been continually before the public, 
and all that time; had l)een employed in offices of the greatest trust and 
responsibility. Having thus devoted the best part of his life to the ser- 
vice of liis country, he now felt desirous of that rest whicli his declining 
years required, and upon the organization of the new government, in 
March, 1809, he bid forever farewell to public life, and retired to Monti- 
cello, there to enjoy all 

" Tliat wliich sfiould accompany old age, 

As honor, love, obedience, troops of" friends." 

From this time, Mr. Jefferson never took any part in politics; but to 
one like him, even old age had its duties, and in the cultivation of his 
estate, in study, and in the exercise of a boundless hosi)itality, he found 
full employment for liistimc. But the object which most interested him 
during his later years, was the establislnncnt of a system of general 
education in Virginia, and especially the superintendance of the new 
university of Virginia, which was founded in 1818, through his instru- 
mentality. Of tliis institution, which was located at Charlottesville, a 
town at the foot of tlie mountain on which the estate of Monticello was 
situated, Mr. Jefferson was chosen rector at the time of its foundation, 
and contiimed in that ofhce during the remainder of his life, devoting 
liimself unremittingly to tlie interests and advancement of this child of 
his old age. 

There was one circumstance, however, which contributed in some 



JEFFERSON. 127 

degree to disturb the happiness of the last years of his life. As the 
greater part of his life had been spent in the service of his country, and 
in public stations, to the support of which the small salary, which the 
more than Spartan economy of a republic allowed, was by no means 
equal, the estate of Mr. Jefterson, though originally large, had been con- 
stantly diminishing, and in 1825, he found himself obliged to apply to 
the Legislature of Virginia, for leave to dispose of his estate of Monticello 
by lottery, to prevent its being sacrificed, and in order to raise money 
sufficient to discharge his debts. This indeed was granted, but the days 
of the patriot were numbered, the time was fast approaching when his 
earthly wants were to cease, and the name of Jefferson must ever 
remain another instance of the tardy gratitude of republics. 

The fourth of July, 182G, being the fiftieth anniversary of the Declara- 
tion of American Independence, great preparations were made, in every 
partof the Union for its celebration, as the nation's jubilee, and the 
citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity of the occasion, invited 
Mr. Jefferson, as tiie framor, and one of the few surviving signers, of the 
Declaration, to participate in their festivities. But an illness, which liad 
been of several weeks' duration, and had been continually increasing, 
compelled him to decline the invitation. In his reply, on the twenty- 
fourth of June, he gives evidence, that although his eartidy frame was 
fast perishing, his mind was still the same ; still animated with the same 
ardent love of liberty, still eager for the universal emancipation of man. 
" It adds sensibly," lie writes, " to the sufferings of sickness, to be de- 
prived by it of a personal participation in the rejoicings of that day ; but 
acquiescence under circumstances, is a duty not placed among those we 
are permitted to control. I should, indeed, with peculiar deliglit, have 
met and exchanged there congratulations, personally, with the small band, 
the remnant of the host of worthies who joined with us, on that day, in 
the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between 
submission and the sword ; and to have enjoyed with them the consola- 
tory fact, that our fellow-citizens, after half a century of experience and 
prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. May it be to the 
world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, 
but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under 
which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind 
♦ themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self government. 
The form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the un- 
bounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, 
or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the lights of 
science has already laid open, to every view, the palpable truth, that the 
mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a 
favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the 
grace of God. These are gromids of hope for others; for ourselves, let 
the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these 
rights, and an undiminished devotion to them." 

Soon after this letter was written, the illness, which before had not 
been considered at all dangerous, increased rapidly, and on the twe.ity- 
eixth, he was obliged to confine himself to his bed. On the second of 



128 JEFFERSON. 

July, the disease, under which he was laboring, left him, but in such a 
reduced state, that his medical attendants entertained no hope of his 
recovery. From this time he himself was perfectly sensible, that his last 
hour was at hand, and with the utmost calmness he conversed with the 
different members of his family, and gave directions concerning his 
coffin, and his funeral, which he was desirous should be at Monticello, 
and without any display or parade. On the next day, which was Monday, 
he asked of those around him, the day of the month, and on being told 
it was the third of July, he expressed the earnest wish that he might be 
permitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary. His prayer was 
heard — that day, whose dawn was hailed with such rapture through our 
land, burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed forever. And what 
a noble consummation of a noble life ! To die on that day, — the birthday 
of a nation, — the day which his own name and his own act had rendered 
glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole nation, 
who looked up to him, as the author, under God, of their greatest bles- 
sings, was all tiiat was wanting to fill up the record of his life. Fifty 
summers had rolled over his head, since the day when the Congress of 
'76 declared America independent ; fifty years he had watched over her 
like a parent over his child : and he had been permitted to see that 
country, whose cause in her hour of darkness he had so nobly maintain- 
ed, prosperous and happy. He had prayed that he might see that day ; 
and on that day, amidst the acclamations of twelve millions of freemen, 
in the hour within which, fifty years before, he had signed the Magna 
Charta of American Freedom, his spirit was freed from the bondage of 
earth. Happy in his life, more happy in his death, of him it may truly 
be said, that 

" Nothing in his life. 

Became him like the leaving it." 

And almost at the same hour, the kindred spirit of the venerable 
Adams, as if to bear him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. 
Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions of freedom ; hand in 
hand, during the dark and desperate struggle of the revolution, they had 
cheered and animated their desponding countrymen ; for half a century 
they had labored together for the good of their country ; and now hand in 
hand they departed. In their lives they had been united in the same 
great cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were not divided. 

At the time of his deaths Mr. Jefferson had attained the age of eighty- 
three years and a few months. In January, 1772, he was married to 
Martha, widow of Bathurst Skelton, and daughter of John Wayles, a 
lawyer of considerable eminence in the then colony of Virginia. Their 
union, however, was of short duration ; she died in September, 1782, 
leaving three daughters, one of whom died young, the other two were 
married, one to Thomas M. Randolph, afterwards Governor of Virginia, 
the other to Mr. Eppes. 

In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather above six feet in 
height, but well formed ; his eyes were light, his hair, originally red, in 
after life became white and silvery ; his complexion was fair, his forehead 
broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and thoughtful. He pos- 



JEFFERSON. 129 

scsscd great fortitude of mind as well as personal courage ; and his com- 
mand of temper was such, that his oldest and most intimate friends never 
recollected to have seen him in a passion. His manners, though dignified, 
were simple and unaffected, and his hospitality was so unbounded, thai 
all found at his house a ready welcome. In conversation he was fluent, 
eloquent, and enthusiastic ; and his language was remarkably pure and 
correct. He was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings is 
discernible the care with which he formed his style upon the best models 
of antiquity. His style is pleasing and attractive, seeking rather to per- 
suade by the beauty and refinement of manner, than to convince by the 
mere force of argument. Of Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, we have 
already spoken ; another work published by him, while he was Vice-Presi- 
dent, and, consequently, presiding officer of the Senate, was a Manual of 
Parliamentary Practice, which has since been a standard work on that 
subject, and probably contains the best collection of rules for forensic 
debate in existence. But for Mr. Jefferson's most numerous and most 
important productions, we must go to the archives of the government, 
and there in the state papers, and reports made by him, we shall find the 
evidence of his talents, industry, and learning. His correspondence was 
very extensive, embracing not only the great men of his own country, but 
also the most distinguished philosophers and statesmen of France. Since 
his death, four volumes of his writings, edited by his grandson, Thomas 
Jefi'erson Randolph, have been published, containing a short memoir of 
his life, to the time of his appointment to be Secretary of State, written 
by himself, in 1821, and also a large collection of his letters, to various 
persons, and on various subjects. 

It is neither our intention or wish, to speak of the religious opinions of 
Mr. Jefferson. Discarding as we do, all political prejudices, we have 
heretofore been enabled to speak of him in terms of approbation, and 
that too, as we trust, without any sacrifice of truth. This could not be 
the case, however, should we now enter upon the consideration of his 
religious sentiments. As a mere moralist, he must ever be esteemed for 
opinions and doctrines, which would have done honor to the purest sages 
of Greece and Rome, and which certainly far surpassed the theories and 
the practice of his masters in religion, the sceptics of the French school. 

But little now remains to be said of Mr. Jefferson ; his whole life was 

passed before the public eye, and his actions speak his character better 

than any words can express them. Whatever may be the judgment of 

posterity, in regard to Mr. Jefferson's administration, it is as the bold and 

fearless patriot of the revolution, — as the framer of the Declaration of 

> ..^American Independence, that he will be best known. Posterity may be 

if^fdivided, as the present age has been, concerning the wisdom and the 

expediency of his measures, while he occupied the chair of the Chief 

Magistrate, for those measures were of such doubtful tendency, that the 

best and wisest might differ concerning them ; but as one of the Congress 

of '76, as one of the firmest opposers of British aggressions, as one of the 

most able statesmen of the revolution, his conduct has been stamped by 

the approbation of a whole nation, and a judgment rendered, that no 

future age will ever reverse. The latter part of Mr. Jefferson's life also 

17 



130 JEFFERSON. 

presents a most pleasing picture. It is delightful to see a man of such 
vast acquisitions, and such varied powers, after a life spent in the service 
of his country, and in the fulfilment of the highest duties, calmly retire 
from public stations, to spend his declining years, not in inactivity and 
lethargy, but in untiring exertions for the advancement of the Imman 
race ; and instead of sinking into a second childhood, by constant 
exercise maintaining all the faculties of his mind unimpaired to the 
last. We hardly know which is the more interesting object — Thomas 
Jefferson, as the young and ardent patriot of '7C, or as the silver haired 
philosopher of Monticello. Or if the former is the more interesting, 
surely the latter is the more pleasing. When we look upon the former, 
while we admire his noble spirit, and his holy daring, we yet tremble for 
his safety, as we think of the rocks and quicksands by which he is sur- 
rounded, and of which the least may make shipwreck of him forever. 
But when we contemplate the latter, in all the serenity of an honored old 
age, resting from his labors, and seeking in the cultivation of philosophy 
the highest pleasures of the intellect, and the means still to benefit man- 
kind — we feel an emotion of thankfulness rising in our hearts, at the 
thought that all those dangers we so much dreaded have been passed ; 
that the course so prosperously commenced, has been gloriously pursued, 
and the long wished for haven at last obtained. The admiration we 
involuntarily feel for the former, is more than equalled by the veneration 
Ave willingly offer to the latter. 



JAMES MADISON. 

Materials for the biography of a public man are to be found, for the 
most part, in the history of the great events in which he was an actor. 
In our own country this is particularly the case. It is, perhaps, hardly to 
be regretted that the private life of our distinguished men is in some mea- 
sure sacred from the otTensive notoriety which is the lot and the penalty 
of eminence in other countries. The numerous dependants on the peri' 
odical press of Great Britain deem themselves privileged to annoy men 
of any reputation, by what they term sketches of their lives. They pick 
up garbled and inaccurate stories, invent one or two leading incidents, 
and, to complete the biography, fasten upon its unfortunate subject a few 
of the most popular anecdotes that have been current for the last century. 
These accounts circulate for the truth, and a man is obliged to see himself 
the hero of battles which he never fought, and an actor upon boards 
which he never trod. 

But there is some satisfaction in reading even an incorrect, but well 
written account of a great man's life, for the same reason that there is 
pleasure in looking on an indifferent likeness, which is well painted and 
handsomely framed. Taste is pleased, if curiosity is not satisfied. A 
void is filled ; we have learned something, and if that something is not 
accurate, we still have high authority for believing that all history is little 
better than fable. 

Of the early life of Mr. Madison we have been able to collect no au- 
thentic anecdotes. His later years were passed in the most entire seclusion, 
as he lived in the strictest privacy at his seat in Montpclier, Virginia. He 
was born in the year 1750, and took an early and efficient interest in the 
affairs of our infant republic. Sound principles on subjects of public and 
political interest seem to have been instilled into him from his birth. To 
state what little we know of his private life, before commencing the narra- 
tion of that part of his career which is the property of his country, Mr. 
Madison, in 1794, was married to Mrs. Todd, in Philadelphia, widow of 
John Todd, Esq. a practitioner of the Pennsylvania bar. Her maiden 
name was Paine, and her father, who was of the Society of Friends, 
emigrated from Virginia to Philadelphia. She was eighteen years of age 
at the time of her first marriage, and as her husband died in less than 
three years afterwards, she was still quite young when she became the 
wife of Mr. Madison, Her manners were agreeable, her deportment 
mild and dignified, and her conversation fascinating. With the wish to 
please, and a wiUingness to be pleased, she was popular in her circle of 
associates ; and when her second husband was called to his high office, 
she discharged, with a dignified affability, those polite attentions which 
were so constantly rec[uired of her. She exerted a woman's tender influ- 



132 MADISON. 

ence to soften the political asperities of the time by the amenities of social 
life ; and strove to hide the thorns of public controversy under the roses 
of private cheerfulness. It has been said, to her great praise, that in her 
highest fortune she never neglected her early friends, but extended to all 
who ap])roached her, those attentions which please the exalted and inspire 
the humble with confidence. 

The first knowledge that we have of Mr. Madison finds him, at an 
early age, a very active member of the Continental Congress. To him, 
more than to any one living, the people of the United States are indebted 
for the constitution under which they live. He was a leader in the con- 
vention that framed the Federal Constitution, and the most influential of 
its supporters in the Virginia Convention which adopted it. He wrote the 
greatest part of the Federalist; was the author of the Virginia Resolu- 
tions of 1798, and the Virginia Report of 1799, and for sixteen years was 
charged with the administration of the government, as the incumbent suc- 
cessively of the second and first offices in the Executive. 

The first subject that pressed upon the attention of Congress, at the 
close of the revolution, was the debt incurred during the war, and which 
it was imperative upon them either to fund or pay. The national com- 
merce had been annihilated. To revive it was the first step towards 
reviving prosperity. But as a preliminary to any commercial arrange- 
ments or treaties with foreign powers, a settlement of their own debt was 
indispensable. In this first step, however, Congress immediately felt its 
litter inefficiency, its incapability of even moving with its actual powers. 
To the impost laid on during the war, divers states had refased acquies- 
cence. How was that or any tax to be now enforced? Nevertheless a 
committee was appointed. It drew up a report, which was soon issued, 
as an address to the several states, praying them to make provision for 
the national creditors. The address was received with the same spirit 
which had endangered the commonwealth so lately, by holding out against 
the claims of the veterans of the war ; and as Congress had resolved not 
to raise money from one state till all had consented to the measure, each 
waited for its neighbor to commence, and each excused itself by its 
neighbor's backwardness. 

At the same time Congress felt its want of authority marring the national 
interests upon another point. Envoys had been despatched to Europe for 
the purpose of concluding commercial treaties. England, the first applied 
to, held off, declaring that Congress had not power to conclude one. In vain 
did Mr. Jefferson argue that the American government had in reality suffi- 
cient authority. If it had, it was certainly not very clear ; and the Bri- 
tish ministry, well pleased at an opportunity to disappoint the United 
States envoys, and to flout the inexperience of their government, held 
firm in its denial. 

The states were in the mean time dispensed from coming to a determi- 
nation respecting raising a general fund, as the envoys of Congress had 
tbund it necessary to meet pressing demands by a loan. Individuals still 
smarting from the losses of a war were very willing to throw forward, 
as it were, the burden of taxes to a future and more prosperous time 

They were disappointed in these selfish calculations. Prosperity came 



MADISON. 138 

not, nor promised to come. Commerce was not restored. England still 
kept up her prohibitions or high duties upon all the great exports of 
America; nor could France consent to receive them, notwithstanding 
her own inclination, and all tiie efforts of Jefferson. To England, and to 
some relaxation in that country's rigid prohibition, they were obliged to 
look ; and this alone produced the consolidation of the Federal Govern- 
ment. 

England had changed her policy. She had laid aside the sword ; but 
she still carried on, what, to America, was as destructive, — a commercial 
war. She monopolized the fisheries, shut out the American ships from 
her West Indies, and essayed to take to herself the whole carrying trade 
of her late colonies. Jefferson and Adams labored in Europe to open 
markets for their countrymen. They concluded treaties with Portugal, 
witii Sweden, witii divers European powers. But shut out from the Medi- 
terranean by the Barbary corsairs ; from France, notwithstanding the 
amity of the countries, by the monopoly of tobacco and other causes ; the 
only alternative left to America was to force England to be equitable. 
This, however, could not be done by the state legislatures ; for if one ad- 
mitted British ships, wliilst the other excluded them, the union of the com- 
monwealth was not only destroyed, but the object of exclusion defeated. 
Congress, in 1784, therefore, demanded powers to exclude generally the 
vessels of all countries not having treaties of commerce with America. 
Most of the states acceded to this request ; but delays and difficulties 
intervened; some could not be brought to understand it. Ere it was ac- 
cepted, the necessity of powers more extended and minute were felt, so 
that Congress made a fresh demand of being permitted to regulate the 
entire commerce of the republic. 

To these commercial difficulties were added political causes of quarrel 
between England and America. JVotwithstanding the express stipulation 
of the treaty, the British creditors remained still unpaid; and the ministry 
refused, in consequence, to evacuate tlie military posts within the north- 
western frontier of the United States. The fault lay with divers states of 
the Union, who resisted carrying into effect the honest stipulation of Con- 
gress. 

The progress of the United States was thus effectually arrested. It 
was in vain that Congress or its leading members discussed or passed votes 
for forming treaties, raising funds, or regulating commerce. It was vain 
to devise remedies without the ])ower of applying them. Every American 
of eminence and experience saw the necessity of giving more authority to 
Congress, of forming a federal head, and giving, in fact, an efficient go- 
vernment to the country. 

The foremost in their opinions were the Virginians. Seeing the weak- 
ness of Congress, this state had early united with Maryland in a prohibi- 
tory system. Proving the good effect of this, they had besought the other 
states to send commissioners to agree upon making it general. This 
proposition, made by Mr. Madison, produced what was called a conven- 
tion, or a meeting of delegates from five states, at Annapolis, in Septem- 
ber, 178G. The assembly soon perceived that unity upon commercial 
regulations must depend upon the political and fundamental unity of the 



134 MADISON. 

state, and that the only possibilitj^ of agreeing as to a common tariff, was 
to frame an efficient constitution. For this important task the delegates 
at Annapolis were not prepared. They declared, however, the necessity 
of taking such a measure into consideration, and, ere they separated, 
agreed as to the expediency of calling a more general and solemn meet- 
ing of delegates from all the states, to meet in the following year at 
Philadelphia. 

At this period broke forth that political schism, that separation of the 
Americans into two parties, which had been brooding and preparing since 
the peace. The war had been a struggle between whig and tory ; the 
supporters of independence on one side, the favorers of monarchy and 
British connexion on the other. By the destruction of the latter, the 
independents were left alone to split into new parties, as the nature of 
every political society requires. Those which were formed on the present 
occasion, have ever since endured, and the flags which each then hoisted 
long continued to float with their ancient principles inscribed. 

But the jealousy of certain states in the preservation of their own local 
rights and interests was likely to operate fatally in marring the project of 
a constitution, and rendering any innovation for the purpose impracticable; 
since the dissentient states were resolved not to choose delegates, or 
accede to the desire of Virginia. 

At length, however, the majority of the state legislatures was brought 
to coincide with the views of the federal statesmen. Convinced by late 
experience of the necessity of an established and general government, 
even for purposes of domestic security, the hitherto refractory states nam- 
ed, without hesitation, their delegates to the appointed convention for 
forming a constitution.* 

Accordingly, in the month of May, 1787, the delegates of twelve states 
met at Philadelphia. Washington, who had reluctantly consented to 
attend, was chosen president. The discussion and arrangement of the 
several articles were carried on with closed doors, and lasted four 
months. And at length, on the 17th of September, the proposed consti- 
tution was made public. It was presented to Congress, and by that body 
was submitted to the several. states for acceptance. t 

The following interesting sunmiary of Mr. Madison's opinions on the 
subject of confederation is from a paper in the hand-writing of Gene- 
ral Washington, and presents the substance of a letter received by him a 

* The state of Rhode Island alone refused. 

t A history of this convention has never been written. The causes which led to 
it may be easily ascertained and traced out, but the opinions and private movements 
of the great political leaders of the day, the precise share of merit due to each for 
the part he acted in enlightening the public mind, and preparing it for the issue of 
events, the previous interchange of thoughts and sentiments, the exposition of mo- 
tives, the ultimate hopes, and above all, the proceedings of the convention itself, the 
views, arguments, and designs of individuals, and the general voice of their con- 
stituents, as expressed by them ; all these topics and numerous others are yet in the 
dark, and must remain so, till the papers left by the departed actors in the scene, and 
such as are still held by the few venerable worthies that remain of that dignified 
assembly, shall come under the eye of the faithful historian, and receive a patient 
inspection and a discriminating award. — N. A. Review. 



MADISON 135 

short time previous to the holding of the Convention at Philadelphia. For 
this valuable docunient we are indebted to the twenty-fifth volume of the 
North American Review. 

" Mr. Madison thinks an individual independence of the states utterly ir- 
reconcilable with their aggregate sovereignty, and that a consolidaiion of 
the whole into one simple republic would be as inexpedient as it is unat- 
tainable. He therefore proposes a middle ground, which may at once 
support a due supremacy of the national authority, and not exclude the lo- 
cal authorities whenever they can be subordinately useful. 

" As the groundwork, he proposes that a change be made in the prin- 
ciple of representation, and thinks there would be no great difficulty in 
effecting it. 

" Next, that, in addition to the present federal powers, the national go- 
vernment should be armed with positive and complete authority in all 
cases which require uniformity ; such as the regulation of trade, including 
the right of taxing both exports and imports, the fixing the terms and 
forms of naturalization, Slc. 

" Over and above this positive power, a negative in all cases whatever on 
.the legislative acts of the states, as heretofore exercised by the kingly 
prerogative, appears to him absolutely necessary, and to be the least pos- 
sible encroachment on the state jurisdictions. Without this defensive 
power he conceives that every positive [law ?] which can be given on paper, 
will be evaded. 

" This control over the laws would prevent the internal vicissitudes of 
state policy, and the aggressions of interested majorities. 

" The national supremacy ought also to be extended, he thinks, to the 
judiciary departments ; the oaths of the judges should at least include a 
fidelity to the general as well as local constitution; and that an appeal 
should be to some national tribunals in all cases, to which foreigners or in- 
habitants of other states may be parties. The admiralty jurisdictions to 
fall entirely within the purview of the national government. 

" The national supremacy in the executive departments is liable to 
some difficulty, unless the officers administering them could be made apn 
pointable by the supreme government. The militia ought entirely to be 
placed in some form or other under the authority which is interested with 
the general protection and defence. 

" A government composed of such extensive powers should be well or 
ganized and balanced. 

" The legislative department might be divided into two branches, one 
of them chosen every years by the people at large, or by the legisla- 
tures ; the other to consist of fewer members, to hold their places for a 
longer term, and to go out in such rotation as always to leave in office a 
large majority of old members. 

" Perhaps the negative on the laws might be most conveniently exer 
cised by this branch. 

" As a further check, a council of revision, including the great minisie 
rial officers, might be superadded. 

" A national executive must also be provided. He has scarcely ventured 
as yet to form his own opinion, either of the manner of which it ought to 
be constituted, or of the authorities with which it ought to be clothed. 



136 MADISON. 

" An article should be inserted, expressly guarantying the tranquillity of 
the states against internal as well as external dangers. 

" In like manner, the right of coercion should be expressly declared. 
With the resources of commerce in hand, the national administration 
micrht always find means of exerting it either by sea or land ; but the dif- 
ficulty and awkwardness of operating by force on the collective will of a 
state, render it particularly desirable that the necessity of it might be 
precluded. Perhaps the negative on the laws might create such a mutual 
dependence between the general and particular authorities as to answer ; 
or perhaps some defined objects of taxation might be submitted along with 
commerce to the general authority. 

" To give a new system its proper validity and energy, a ratification 
must be obtained from the people, and not merely from the ordinary au- 
thority of the legislature. This will be the more essential, as inroads on 
the existing constitutions of the states will be unavoidable." 

Although the party, designated as democratic, had givfen up a con- 
siderable portion of its hostility to a united government, still it was far 
from wanting representatives in the convention. We are informed, in- 
deed, that, in the most important questions, votes were so nicely balanced, 
that it was impossible to foretell any decision. During the discussions 
the leading men opposed to the democrats published their opinions in a 
series of letters, signed the Federalist, a name which henceforward 
seemed to designate the party. Mr. Madison and Mr. Jay were writers ; 
but the principal one, as well as the most esteemed in his opinions, was 
Colonel or General Hamilton. This gentleman went the length of propos- 
ing that the president and each senator should hold his office, as our 
judges do, during their good behavior. The anti-federalists, on the other 
hand, of whom the future leader, JeflTerson, was, however, as yet in 
France, supported the principle of rotation, or frequent change in the 
person wielding the executive of the country. The federalists' side was 
most powerful in talent, and being supported by the authority of Wash- 
ington, their opinions mainly prevailed. 

The constitution no sooner appeared, than it was attacked with a host 
of objections. One party exclaimed that it had melted the states into one 
government, without fencing the people by any declarations of rights ,- 
that a standing army was not renounced, and the liberty of the press not 
secured ; that Congress reserved to itself the power of suspending trial 
by jury in civil cases ; that rotation in office was abandoned ; that the 
president might be re-elected from four years to four years, so as to ren- 
der him a king for life, like a king of Poland ; and that the check or aid 
of a council had not been given him. Notwithstanding these objections, 
the constitution obtained the assent of all the states, save two — Rhode 
Island and North Carolina. New- York was said to have acceded, chiefly, 
from fear of being excluded from the union ; and, in consenting, she had 
demanded a new convention to make amendments in the act. Even Vir- 
ginia thought it necessary to propose alterations. She required a decla- 
ration of rights, and the limitation that the President should be but once 
re-elected. These discussions occupied the year 1788, after which the 
constitution was generally accepted, and the grand point of a federal 
union achieved. 



MADISON. 137 

The month of March, 1789, was the epoch appointed for the com- 
mencement of the new government. So wanting, however, were many 
of the states, or their representatives, in zeal, that three weeks elapsed 
ere a full meeting of both Houses could be procured. Their first neces- 
sary step was to elect a President ; and George Washington was unani- 
mously chosen to the office. With unfeigned reluctance, occasioned both 
by love of retirement and tenderness for his reputation, did that great 
man accept the first office of the commonwealth. The sacrifice was de- 
manded of him, as, in the words of Hamilton, the success of the great 
experiment, viz. the working and existence of the new government, alto- 
gether depended upon the moral force which the name and character of 
Washington would bring to its chief office. 

Washington's progress from his seat of Mount Vernon to Philadelphia 
was a triumphant procession, such as few conquerors have known. The 
ceremony of his inauguration took place on the 30th of April, and the 
new President addressed Congress in a noble and touching discourse. 
He could not have evinced a stronger conviction of the importance of his 
own duties, as well as of those whom he addressed, than is conveyed in 
the following words : — " The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, 
nd the destiny of the republican form of government, are justly cnnsi- 
ered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to 
the hands of the American people." 

No sooner was the federal government thus completed by the inaugu- 
ration of its chief, than Congress proceeded at once to the considera- 
tion of what most pressed upon its attention — the revenue. But as every 
thing had hitherto remained unsettled, the discussion on this point involv- 
ed the question of foreign policy and preference ; and, leading to a warm 
debate, occasioned a collision between parties at the very outset of their 
legislative career. 

Mr. Madison proposed a tax upon imported goods and tonnage. This, 
in principle, was objected to by none ; but as the tonnage duty, pressing 
upon foreign vessels exclusively, was intended to act in favor of domestic, 
and at the expense of foreign shipping, it excited opposition. Some 
urged that America had few ships of her own, and needed the use of 
those which this duty might drive away. But Madison pointed out, in 
answer, the necessity of fostering the infant navy of the country, as the 
only defensive force that would be required or available in a future war. 

This argument overcame the objections. But another part of Mr. 
Madison's plan, — that which favored the commerce of France rather than 
that cf Great Britain, — called forth greater heat and opposition. France 
had contributed largely by her aid and alliance to the cause of American 
independence, from selfish reasons, no doubt, rather than from any love 
either for America or freedom ; but this latter country was not called 
upon to scrutinize her motives. In addition to the claims of gratitude on 
this account, the envoys of the United States had been received as foes 
in Great Britain, as friends in France. The correspondence of Franklin 
and Jeflferson, more especially the latter, exists, to attest how the sullen 
pride of merely English manner might have the effect of exciting ran- 
cor in a statesman, .and by consequence in his country. 



138 MADISON. 

A provision being mndc for raising a revenue and answering the jusl 
debts of the states, Congress proceeded to the completion of the machine 
of government by the institution of ministerial offices, according to the 
usage of the monarchies of Europe. Departments were erected, of the 
treasury, of war, and of state, — the latter including foreign and domestic 
relations. Tliis last important office attracted particular attention. The 
bill for establishing it intrusted the President with the power of removing 
the minister from office. It was moved, by way of amendment, that the 
President should not have the power of dismissing the minister without 
the assent of Congress. This assent or co-operation, it was argued, hav- 
ing been considered requisite to the appointment, why sliould it not 
be indispensable, to the act of dismissal ? The government party op- 
posed strenuously this attempt to nullify the presidential office, which, 
indeed, if shorn of this authority, would have been reduced to a level 
with that of its secretary. Nay, they were not content with voting this 
power at present, but contended that the rule should have been a funda- 
mental part of the constitution. It was now declared to be so by a vote, 
the derogatory amendment having been previously negatived ; and the 
wholv-jsome prerogative of the President was effectually secured. _ 

The several ministerial departments were now filled up. Colonel Ham^ 
ilton, the friend of Washington, and he who had chiefly induced him to 
accept the guidance of the new government, was appointed to the treasury. 
General Knox, who had been the war minister under Congress, was now 
re-appointed ; whilst Jefferson, envoy in France, but then on his return to 
the United States, was named secretary of the state department, including 
foreign and home affliirs. 

At the head of the law was placed Mr. Jay, as chief justice, one of the 
most estimable characters of the time. Mr. Randolph was named 
attorney-general. Mr. Adams had been elected Vice-President : the only 
name of eminence omitted in the arrangements was that of Madison. 

A ])articular view of the successive administrations is given in the life 
of each of the Presidents. With a short account, therefore, of Mr. Madi- 
son's celebrated commercial resolutions offered to Congress m January, 
1794, we shall pass to the period and to the most striking affairs of his 
presidency. 

When Congress assembled in the month of December, 1793, a variety 
of iujportant and interesting topics were pressing upon the public atten- 
tion. The British government had declared France to be in a state of 
blockade, by issuing orders to stop all neutral ships laden with provisions 
bound to her ports. Corn at that time formed the chief export of the 
United States, and to prohibit them from shipping it at all, for the new 
regulation amounted in fact to this, was a grievance to which the most 
pacific neutral could scarcely submit. Another continually recurring 
source of complaint on the part of the United States against England was 
the pressing of their seamen, which circumstances rendered of frequent 
occurrence and tardy rectification. 

In reference to this state of affairs, Mr. Madison early in January, 1794, 

submitted to the House his commercial resolutions. The substance of the 

. first of these resolutions was, that the interest of the United States would 



MADISON. 139 

be promoted by further restrictions and higher duties in certain cases, on 
the manufactures and navioration of foreign nations. TIic additional du- 
ties were to be laid on certain articles manufactured by those European 
nations which had no commercial treaties with the United States. These 
resolutions required reciprocity in navigation, except with respect to the 
West India trade. The last of the resolutions declared that provision 
ought to be made, for ascertaining the losses sustained by American citi- 
zens, from the operation of particular regulations of any country contra- 
vening the law of nations ; and that these losses be reimbursed, in the 
first instance, out of the additional duties on the manufactures and vessels 
of nations establishing such regulations. The debates on these resolu- 
tions were long and animated. On the 3d of February the first was 
adopted by a majority of five only.* 

On the 4l]i of March, 1809, Mr. Madison, who had been Secretary of 
State under the preceding administration, was inducted into the office of 
President of the United States. At this time the situation of our affairs 
was in many respects gloomy. France and England were still at war, 
and were continuing to array against each other the most violent commercial 
edicts, that exhibited but little deference to the rights and interests of 
neutral nations. Previously to the adjournment of tlic Inst Congress under 
Mr. Jefferson, an act had been passed which repealed the then existing em- 
bargo, and interdicted commercial intercourse with France and Great 
Britain. Should either of these powers, however, revoke their edicts, the 
President was authorized to renew their intercourse. Mr. Madison's in- 
augural address was as follows : 

" Unwilling to depart from examples of the most revered authority, I 
avail myself of the occasion now presented, to express the profound im- 
pression made on me, by the call of my country to the station, to the 
duties of which I am about to pledge myself, by the most solemn of sanc- 
tions. So distinguished a mark of confidence, proceeding from the 
deliberate and trancpiil suffrage of a free and virtuous nation, would, 
under any circumstances, have commanded my gratitude and devotion, 
as well as filled me with an awful sense of the trust to be assumed. 
Under the various circumstances which give peculiar solemnity to the 
existing period, I feel that both the honor and the responsibility allotted 
to me, are inexpressibly enhanced. The present situation of the world 
is indeed without a parallel ; and that of our country full of difficulties. 
The pressure of these, too, is more severely felt, because they have fallen 
upon us at a moment when the national prosperity being at a height not 
before attained, the contrast resulting from the change has been rendered 
the more striking. Under tlie benign influence of our republican insti- 
tutions, and the maintenance of peace with all nations, while so many of 
them were engaged in bloody and wasteful wars, the fruits of a just poli- 
cy were enjoyed, in an unrivalled growth of our faculties and resources. 
Proofs of this were seen in the improvements of agriculture, in the suc- 
cessful enterprises of commerce, in the progress of manufactures and 

* Pitkin. 



140 MADISON. 

useful arts ; in the increase of the public revenue, and the use made of it 
in reducing the public debt, and in the valuable works and establish- 
ments, every where multiplying over the face of our land. It is a pre- 
cious reflection that the transition from this prosperous condition of our 
country to the scene which has for some time been distressing us, is not 
chargeable on any unwarrantable views, nor, as I trust, on any involun- 
tary errors in the public councils. Indulging no passions which trespass 
on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true glory of 
the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice ; and to entitle 
themselves to the respect of the nations at war, by fulfilling their neutral 
obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality. If there be candor in 
the world, the truth of these assertions will not be questioned. Posterity 
at least will do justice to them. This unexceptionable course could not 
avail against the injustice and violence of the belligerent powers. In their 
rage against each other, or impelled by more direct motives, principles 
of retaliation have been introduced, equally contrary to universal reason 
and acknowledged law. How long their arbitrary edicts will be continu- 
ed, in spite of the demonstrations that not even a pretext for them has 
been given by the United States, and of the fair and liberal attempts to 
induce a revocation of them, cannot be anticipated. Assuring myself 
that, under every vicissitude, the determined spirit and united councils of 
the nation will be safeguards to its honor and its essential interests, I 
repair to the post assigned me, with no other discouragements than what 
spring from my own inadequacy to its high duties. If I do not sink un- 
der the weight of this deep conviction, it is because I find support in a 
consciousness of the purposes and a confidence in the principles which 
I bring with me into this arduous service. To cherish peace and 
friendly intercourse with all nations having correspondent dispositions; 
to maintain sincere neutrality towards belligerent nations; to prefer, in 
all cases, amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of differen- 
ces to a decision of them by an appeal to arms ; to exclude foreign 
intrigues and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries, and 
so baneful to free ones ; to foster a spirit of independence, too just to 
invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to 
indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look down 
upon them in others ; to hold the union of the states as the basis of their 
peace and happiness ; to support the constitution, which is the cement of 
the union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities ; to respect the 
rights and authorities reserved to the states and to the people, as equally 
incorporated with, and essential to the success of, the general system ; to 
avoid the slightest interference with the rights of conscience, or the func- 
tions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction ; to preserve 
in their full energy the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and 
personal rights, and of the freedom of the press ; to observe economy in 
public expenditures ; to liberate the public resources by an honorable dis- 
charge of public debts ; to keep within the requisite limits a standing 
military force, always remembering that an armed and trained militia force 
is the firmest bulwark of republics ; that without standing armies their 
liberty can never be in danger, nor, with large ones, safe; to promote by 



1 



MADISON. 141 

authorized means improvements friendly to agriculture, to manufactures, 
and to external as well as internal commerce ; to favor in like manner the 
advancement of science and the diffusion of information, as the best 
aliment to true liberty ; to carry on benevolent plans, which have been so 
meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from 
the degradation and wretchedness of savage life, to a participation of the 
improvements of which the human mind and manners are susceptible in 
a civilized state. As far as sentiments and intentions such as these can 
aid the fulfilment of my duty, they will be a resource which cannot fail 
me. It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in which I am to 
tread, lighted by examples of illustrious services successfully rendered, in 
the most trying difficulties by those who have marched before me. Of 
those of my immediate predecessor, it might least become me here to speak. 
I may, however, be pardoned for not suppressing the sympathy with 
which my heart is full, in the rich reward he enjoys in the benedictions 
of a beloved country, gratefully bestowed for exalted talents zealously de- 
voted, through a long career, to the advancement of its highest interest 
and happiness. But the source to which I look for the aid which alone 
can supply my deficiencies, is in the well tried intelligence and virtue of 
my fellow citizens, and in the councils of those representing them in the 
other departments associated in the care of the national interest. In 
these, my confidence will, under every difficulty, be best placed ; next to 
that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and 
guidance of that Almiglity Being, whose power regulates the destiny of 
nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this 
rising republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude 
for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the 
future." 

A new administration generally commences with fair promises on one 
side, and hopes on the other, of a change. It is a period of congratula- 
tion and politeness. Mr. Madison was declared to want the inveterate 
republicanism and anti-British feeling of his predecessor. He had been 
the first to propose the federal union, and his political career since had 
not been marked as that of a partizan. These considerations raised the 
hopes of the English minister in America, that some arrangement might 
be made. The repeal of the embargo, and the substitution of a less ob- 
noxious act, offered a fit and favorable pretext for renewing negotiations ; 
more especially as a clause was inserted in the later act, to the purpose, 
that if either of the belilgerents should recall its hostile edicts, a procla- 
mation of the executive should suffice to suspend the non-intercourse 
with respect to that belligerent. 

Mr. Erskine, accordingly, received from Mr. Canning, the English 
secretary of state, powers to treat, together with instructions as to the 
points to be insisted on. He was to consent to withdraw the orders in 
council on the essential points, on certain preliminary conditions, such as 
the prohibition against English ships appearing in American waters being 
repealed, and the abandonment of the right claimed by the United States 
to trade with such of the enemy's colonies as she was not permitted to 
trade with in peace. Overlooking these altogether, Mr. Erskine consi- 



142 MADISON. 

dorod the Riipon.sion of tlio noii-int,(!rcourso as a fair oqnivalont for that 
of th(i orders in romicil, aiid did not hositato to .stipulate, accordiiiirly, 
that th(>s(' should ccasc! to lu! in force at a certain epocli. The I'rcsi(U)nt, 
accordini^ly, siispcnchMl th(! non-intercourse. But tidiui:fs no sooner 
reached lOu^hind of th(! ohsecpiious liaste of Mr. Erskine, tlian he was 
disavowcMl. 'The orck^rs in council vv(!re suspended only so far as not to 
endauirer those vessels which had sailed from Anierica on the faith of 
Mr. I'irskine's declaration. The President, in consequence, declared the 
non-intercour.se act as still in force, and the silent war of prohibitory edicts 
contiiUKMl on its old fooling. 

These l)lund(us in diplomacy were singularly unfortunate, since they 
had the elfect of irritating and giving rise to hateful suspicions. The 
Americans believed th.it Mr. Erskine had acted in conse(piencc of his 
instructions, and that tlie disavowal was an act of capricious hostility on 
th(! i);irt of th(! IJritish minister. The parlinuuMitary op|)()sition in ICn- 
ghuid took the same view ; and a parti.il production of the corres]>on- 
di:uce accredited (lu! beliid', which afterwards, however, was proved to 
l)e erroneous. Jiut the ellect was tnutaiuount. Erskine was recalhid, 
and Mr. .lackson s(Mit in his place. The latt(>r was as ill-chosen as the 
former ; siuci; there! was some cause which iender(Ml him particularly ob- 
noxious to the Americans, lie was receiv(>(l with studied coldness, and 
made to wait ev(>n for his recognition for a long time. His endeavors to 
renew the broken negotiation were m(>t by the remark of the inutility of 
such an attempt, and by an allusion to tli(! duplicity of the British govern- 
ment in tli(! allair of I'askine. .lackson retorted with warmth. His ob- 
servations were considered as insidts; and, on tiiis ])lea, further counnu- 
nication with him was declined, and his recall demanded of the minister 
in London. 

Frauc(> having been again applied to by America at this time, the em- 
peror rt>plied, that his decre^es were but retaliation; and that if England 
recalled her blockade; and her orders in council, he would suffer his de- 
crees to be considered null. INlr. Madison took advantage of this appa- 
rent fairn(>ss on tin; part of the French ruler, and obtained from t]i<> ma- 
jority of ('ongross divers resolutions, a|)i)roviug of the high and defiant 
tone of jJolicy observed by him towards ICngland. The state of Massa- 
chusetts alone protested. J'reparalious for war continued with activity; 
and the peoi)le already began to turn their attention and ca|)ital to tlie 
<lom(!stic production of thosiMuanuractun^s witii which (Jreat Britain bad 
been in the habitof more cheaply supplying them. I'ngland, at the same 
time, began to seek elsewluMC! tluKse; commodities which the United States 
had luriiislied : she sought tluMU iu Canada chi(>l1y. The alicuations and 
mutual injury thus worked by conunercial prohibitions were, perhaps, 
greater tlian could have; couie of actual war. 

The conduct of Mr. Madison and the American gov(>nunent to the 
British envoy showed such signs of a loaning towards France, and, in- 
deed, such an imitation of Napoleon's own behavior on similar occasions, 
that the emperor becanu; more obsequious. The non-intercourse act expir- 
ing in 1810, the Americans again summoned the two powers to remove 
tlieir restrictions. This was asked with the manifest purpose of declaring 



MADTSON. 143 

war ; the latter .^eing the only ahernative, if the restrictions were not 
removed ; since the Americans couki not consent to abandon the sea 
altogetlier. To tliis Bonaparte replied by an amicable advance, intimat- 
ing, through his minister, that his decrees should be suspended. It was 
understood by him, of course, that America should no longer submit to 
the orders in council if unrepealed. To the English ministry an ap])eal 
was now made to follow the example of France. Unfortunately tliey 
hesitated, chicaned as to the supposed insincerity of the French declara- 
tion, or the informality of its announcement ; and feeling that the demand 
was accompanied by menace, they held out more from pique than policy. 

No conduct could have been more ill-judged ; it served all the purpo- 
ses of tlie anti-British in America, and flung the United States completely 
into the arms of France, whose vessels were now admitted to the ports 
of the former, whilst the interdict against the English was renewed. The 
British minister seems to have inferred that the French emperor could 
not be sincere in his declarations to consider his decrees no longer in 
force ; since such would have broken through that continental system, 
which was known to be his most fixed principle. In vain did the Ameri- 
can envoy otfer proof of his assertion in this respect. Reply was evaded ; 
and at length, Mr. Pinkney demanded his audience of leave, determined 
to put an end to a mission that was hopeless. 

In this doubtful state of connexion between America and England, 
an accidental collision took place between vessels of the respective 
countries, tending much to inflame and widen the existing diflerences. 
An English sloop of war, the Little Belt, commanded by captain Bing- 
ham, descried a ship olF the American coast, and made sail to come up 
with it ; but finding it a frigate and dubious of its nation, he retired. 
The other, which proved to be American, the President, under captain 
Rogers, pursued in turn. Both captains hailed nearly together ; and 
both, instead of replying, hailed again ; and from words, as it were, came 
to blows, without explanation. Captain Bingham lost upwards of thirty 
men, and his ship sutfered severely. A court of inquiry was ordered on 
the conduct of captain Rogers, which decided that it had been satisfac- 
torily proved to the court tliat captain Rogers hailed the Little Belt first, 
that his hail was not satisfactorily answered, that the Little Belt fired the 
first gun, and that it was without previous provocation or justifiable cause 

Tlie Americans continued making every preparation for war. Forti- 
fications were carried on at New- York and New Orleans. This latter 
position was, indeed, the vulnerable part of the confederacy. It was so 
felt, and divers plans were proposed ; one for a kind of miliiary colony ; 
that is, to grant lands to a body of men, on the condition of their being 
trained, and ready to take arms, should an enemy appear off the coast. 
But this plan, so little in accordance with the spirit of a free government. 
Was not adopted. West Florida was, however, taken possession of, to 
cut the Gordian knot of difference on the subject with Spain. The 
moment was such as allowed the ungenerous advantage to be taken ; 
Spain herself being occupied by the French, whilst her colonies were 
torn by civil wars. This formed another item of complaint and remon- 
strance on the part of the British. 



144 MADISON. 

In the spring of 1811, Mr. Foster was sent out plenipotentiary from 
England, to make another attempt at negotiation. But, as he had nc 
power for stipulating the repeal of the orders in council, his mission was 
illusive : it was merely productive of argument and diplomatic pleading 
between him and Mr. Monroe. The British envoy contended, that it was 
France, not England, which commenced the blockade, prohibiting neu- 
trals ; and that the repeal of her decrees was merely nominal. The 
American replied tliat the wrongs of France against his nation, afforded 
no plea for the wrongs of England to be wreaked on it also : he more- 
over said, that France was sincere. Such arguments were of little avail. 
Mr. Foster returned without having effected any thing. 

In the November following. Congress was called together ; and Presi- 
dent Madison addressed it fully respecting the points and consequences 
of the still widening difference. It was hoped, he said, at the close of 
last session, that the successive confirmation of the extinction of the 
French decrees would have induced the government of Great Britain to 
repeal its orders in council : on the contrary, however, they had been 
put into more rigorous execution, and fresh outrages had been committed 
on the American coasts. "Notwithstanding the scrupulous justice, the 
protracted moderation, and the multiplied efforts on the part of the Unit- 
ed States to substitute for the accumulating dangers to the peace of the 
two countries, all the nuitual advantages of re-established friendship and 
confidence, we have seen that the British cabinet perseveres, not only 
in withholding a remedy for other wrongs, so long and so loudly calling 
for it, but in the execution, brought home to the threshold of our terriiory, 
of measures which, under existing circumstances, have the character, as 
well as the effect, of war on our law fid commerce. With this evidence 
of hostile inflexibility, in trampling on rights which no independent na- 
tion can relinquish. Congress will feel the duty of putting the United 
States into an armor and an attitude demanded by the crisis, and corres- 
ponding with the national spirit and expectations." This was followed 
up by demands of increase in the army, the navy, and all military stores 
and establishments. 

In this address, the President took occasion to allude to a new spirit of 
hostility displayed amongst the north-western Indians. Party attributed 
this to British gold and interference. The cause was evident, however, 
in the appearance of an Indian prophet, a reformer, who preached to his 
red brethren, that all their disasters had been owing to their having for- 
saken the wise and simple habits of their ancestors ; and that he had 
been prompted by the Great Spirit to warn them from mingling with the 
whites, from eating hogs and bullocks, in lieu of the game that used to 
give them the warrior's and the hunter's spiril, and, above all, from the 
use of ardent spirits. This last salutary injunction gave force and truth 
to all that the savage prophet uttered. This fanatic advice, however 
salutary in one respect, necessarily produced hatred towards the whites, 
and outrages upon them. General Harrison was despatched against the 
Indians in the autumn of 1811. The savages, at first, appeared friendly : 
but it was only to cover the purpose of a night assault, which proved 
almost fatal to the American force : it lost considerable numbers, but suc- 
ceeded in repulsing the enemy. 



MALISON. 145 

The winter of 1811 — 12 passed in preparations for immediate war, as 
the British government, then for the first time elated with military success, 
showed no signs of yielding. However, the friends of peace and of 
America exerted themselves in parliament to deter the ministry from the 
rash act of adding the United States to the number of its enemies ; and 
this, for the support of commercial prohibition warranted neither by just 
pride nor wise policy. The marquis of Lansdowne, in the House of 
Lords, and Mr. Brougham, in the Commons, moved for a committee to 
take into consideration the orders in council. " If," said the former 
statesman, "at the time of the revolution in America, any one could have 
foreseen that the whole conunerce of continental Europe would have 
fallen under the iron grasp and dominion of France, they would have 
looked to the establishment of an indejicndent state on the other side of 
the Atlantic, out of the reach of French power, to become the carrier of 
our commerce and the purchaser of our manufactures, as the greatest boon 
that could have been given us. Such an event has occurred, as if provi- 
dentially : yet this great and inestimable advantage has been destroyed 
by the orders in council." 

A majority in both houses voted for going into committee. Petitions 
from the manufacturing towns of England poured in against the orders ; 
and when the report of the committee was brought up, the general voice 
of the country and of parliament compelled the abandonment by the 
lories of their obnoxious orders. It was too late, however. The elo- 
quence of Brougham, — and never was greater shown both with tongue 
and pen, — prevailed, but prevailed in vain. On the arrival of a ship 
from England, bringing no satisfactory tidings, the President sent a mes- 
sage to Congress, recapitulating all the causes of complaint against Bri- 
tain, (amongst which the stirring up of the Indians on t,lie Wabash was 
not forgotten,) and recommended a formal declaration of war. Congress 
acceded to the proposal ; and, notwithstanding the energetic protest of 
the federals in opposition, war was declared against Great Britain on the 
I8th of June, 1812. 

The talk of Mr. Madison to the Indians, in 1812, at the commence- 
ment of the war, contains sentiments so honorable to himself and hia 
country, and so appropriately and beautifully expressed, that we shall 
copy a part of this very interesting document. It may be considered as 
the manifesto of the American government, establishing the principles of 
its intercourse with its aboriginal neighbors, in the critical circumstances, 
which imposed new duties upon both. And* the contrast between this 
course, and that pursued by tlie British government, must awaken reflec- 
tions here and elsewhere, which although tardy may yet be useful. 

" The red people who live on the same great island with the white peo- 
ple of the eigliteen fires, are made by the same Spirit, out of the same 
earth, from parts of it differing in color only. My regard for all niy red 
children has made me desirous that the bloody tomahawk should l)e buri- 
ed between the Osages, the Cherokees, and the Choctaws. I wish also 
that the hands of the Shawnese and the Osage should be joined in my 
presence, as a pledge to cherish and observe the peace made at St. Louis, 
19 



146 MADISON. 

This wns a jjooil poaco for botli. It is a cliaiii tliat onojht (o hold them 
fast in IVioiulship. Neither blood nor rnst should ever be upon it. 

" I am coucornod that the war has so loujj been kopt up by the 
Sacs and Foxos against tho Osagos ; and that lattcMly a bloody war is 
carried on botwoon th(> Osagos and the Toways. 1 now tell my red chil- 
dren here i)resent, that this is bad for both parties. They nuist jnit nnder 
my feet their evil intentions against each otiuT, and henceforward live in 
peace and good will ; each hunting on their lands and working their 
own soil. 

A father ought to give good advice to his children, and it is the dnty of 
his children to hearken to it. The people composing the eighteen fires 
are a great people. Yon have travelletl through their country. You sec 
they cover the land, as the stars till the sky ; and arc as thick as the trees 
in your forests. Notwithstanding their great power, the IJritish King has 
attacktul lliem on tht* grt\it wat»M- beyond wiiich lie lives. He has rol)bed 
them of their ships, and carried away the people belonging to them. 
Some of tiiem he mur(U>red. He has an old grudge against the eighteen 
fires, because when he tried to make them dig and plant for his people 
beyond tiu> great water, not for themselves, they sent out warriors who 
beat his warriors; they carried off the bad cliit>fs he had sent among them, 
and set np good chiefs of their own. The eighteen fires did this when 
they had not tiie strengtli they now have. Their blows will now be mncli 
heavier, and will soon make him do them justice. It hai)pened wlien the 
thirteen fires, now increased to eighteen, forced the l?ritish King to treat 
them as an independent nation, one little fire did not join them. This he 
has held ever since. It is tiiere that his agents and traders plot quarrels 
and wars between the eighteen fires and their brethren, and between one 
red tribe and another. Maliien is the place where all the bad birds have 
their nests. There they are fed with false tales against the eighteen fires, 
and are sent ont with bloody belts in their bills to drop among the red 
peojile who would otherwise remain at peace. It is good for all the red 
people as well as all the people of the eighteen fires, that a stop should 
be put to this misclii«>f 'IMieir warriors can do it. They are gone and 
are going to t^anada lor this purpose. They want no help from their red 
brethren. They are strong enough without it. The British, who are 
weak, are doing all they can. by their bad birds, to decoy the red people 
into war on their side. 1 warn all the red ptH)ple to avoid the ruin this 
must bring upon them. And 1 say to you, my children, your lather does 
not ask you to join his warriors. Sit still on your seats ; and be witnesses 
that they are able to IhnU their enemies, and protect their red friends. 
This is the fatherly advice I give you. 

" I have a fiirther advice for my red children. Yon see how the coun- 
try of the eighteen fires is filled with people. They increase like the 
corn they put into the ground. They all have good hou.ses to shelter 
them from all weathers ; good clothes snitable to all seasons ; and as for 
food of all sorts, you see they have enough and to spare. No man, wo- 
man, or child of the eighteen fires ever perished of hunger. Compare all 
this with the condition of the red people. They are scattered here and 



MADISON 147 

there in handfuls. Tlieir lodges ;irc cold, leaky, and smoky. They 
have liard faro, and often not enouirji of it. 

"Why (his mighty diirorenco ? The reason, my red children, is plain: 
the wiiite peojjle breed cattle and sheep. They plongh the earth, and 
make it give them every thing they want. They spin and weave. Their 
heads and their hands make all the elements and productions of nature 
useful to them. Above all, the people of the eighteen fires live in con- 
stant peace and friendship. No tomahawk has ever been raised by one 
against the other. Not a drop of blood has ever touched the chain that 
holds them together as one family. All their belts are white belts. It is 
in your power to be like them. The ground iliat feeds one lodge; by 
hunting would feed a great band by tlie plough and hoe. Tiie CJreat 
Sj)irit lias given you, like your white brethren, good heads to contrive, 
strong arms, and active bodies. Use them like your white brethren, not 
all at once, which is diilicult, but by little and little, which is easy. Es- 
pecially, live in peace with one another, like your white brethren of the 
eighteen fires; you will be well fed, well clothed; dwell in good 
houses, and enjoy the happiness for which you, like them, were created. 
The Great Spirit is the friend of men of all colors, lie made them to 
be friends of one another. The more they are so, the more he will be 
their friend. These are the words of your father to his red children. 
The Great Spirit, who is father of us all, approves them. Let them i)ass 
through the ear into the heart. Carry them home to your people. And 
as long as you remember this visit to your father of the eighteen fires, 
remember tiiese are his last and best words to you." 

Certain states, that of Massachusetts especially, have been represented 
as most averse to hostilities with England, and to those measures by 
which the existing government of the Union tended to that end. The 
federals in this region not only protested, but meditated the preservation 
of a state of neutrality, if that were possible without dissolving the Union. 
In fact, Massachusetts did not like to be dragged into war against ila 
consent. To take advantage of this strong dissent and disunion, the 
governor of Canada had, it seems, sent an agent to New-lOngland. It 
was, indeed, an unwarrantable stej) ; and so criminal was the design, that 
even the federals denounced it. Jeircrson owns that he first learned it 
through the younger Adams, as early as the time of the embargo. In- 
stead of making any preliminary complaint or communication to the 
British government, Mr. Madison brought it forward in Congress; and it 
tended considerably to indame the American mind against j'-iigland, and 
to screw it up to that pitch requisite to set aside the consideration of the 
risk and great expenses of the war. 

This step was undertaken also for the purpose, no doubt, of intimidat- 
ing th(! anti-war party of the eastern states. This party was still con- 
siderable : it counted a minority on the decisive vote of forty-nine to 
seventy-nine ; and even since it continued to protest and petition. At 
Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, — that town which, one may say, had 
commenced the war of independence, — the Hags of tlie shipping were 
hoisted half-mast high, in token of mourning for the war of ISV2. The 
southern states were as violent in siipport oi' the contrary opinion ; and 



148 MADISON. 

Baltimore was more especially signalized for its anti-English zeal. A 
federal paper here dared to hrave the prevalent opinion. A mob was ex- 
cited to attack the establishment, which was defended against them ; a^d 
force arriving, the defenders, not the offenders, were taken to prison. 
But this did not secure them. The prison doors were broken open next 
day, and many of the federals massacred ; among whom were two veteran 
generals, friends of Washington. 

Except rencontres between single ships, the only theatre of war in the 
United States was the Canadian position ; and thither, accordingly, their 
efforts were turned. Attempts to call out the militia in Upper Canada 
had been productive of disturbances, in whicli the troops and the inhabi- 
tants had mutually fired upon each other. This encouraged the Ameri- 
cans to an invasion, and an army was collected for that purpose in the 
north. General Dearborn was created commander-in-chief; Pinkney, 
Major-Gencral Wilkinson, Hampton, Hull, were the other names on the 
list of conunanding officers. 

General Hull was Governor of the Michigan Territory. Not much 
more than a fortnight after the declaration of war, he collected a body of 
upwards of two thousand troops of the line and militia, and pushed over 
the frontier, as if he intended to attack Montreal, publishing, at the same 
time, an arrogant proclamation. His subsequent movements were as 
dilatory as his previous haste ; and upon hearing that the Indians had 
invaded his province upon another point, and that the English general, 
Brock, was at the head of a respectable force, Hull retreated. He was 
pursued by Brock, who besieged him in Fort Detroit, and was about ^o 
try the fortune of an assault, when the American commander, panic- 
struck, hoisted the white flag, and surrendered, with his fort and army, to 
the surprise and indignation of the Americans. 

This signal defeat took place in August. As the blame was thrown 
upon the pusillanimity of the commanders, in little more than a month an 
American force was again collected upon the same position. On this 
occasion it was thought advisable not to risk an invasion, the aim being 
rather to master some neighboring post, which might make amends lor 
the loss of Detroit. Queenstown, on tlie Niagara, was fixed on as the 
object of attack. An American division, under Colonel Van Rennselaer, 
crossed with the view of mastering it. They stormed it gallantly ; but 
General Brock arrived at the moment of success, and drove the Ameri- 
cans back. Whilst reinforcements arrived to the British, the American 
militia refused to cross the river to reinforce their party , and, in short, 
shrunk from the tight. The English, therefore, remained complete vic- 
tors, capturing all wlio had crossed to the assault. It was, however, with 
the loss of the gallant Brock, who was shot whilst cheering on his men. 
during the doubtful period of tlie conflict. 

Thus, upon land, the advantages of this first campaign rested altoge- 
ther with the British. It was at sea, on tlie element where tliey felt most 
secure, that their superiority was seriously disputed. About the very 
time thai General Hull surrendered in Detroit, Captain Hull, commanding 
the Constitution frigate, fell in with the British frigate the Guerriere. An 
engagement ensued ; when, in half an hour, the latter was so totally 



MADISON. 149 

disabled, as not only to be obliged to surrender, but to be burned by her 
captors. 

On the 17th of October, another naval victory was achieved over an 
enemy decidedly superior in force, and under circumstances the most 
favorable to him. This was the capture of the brig Frolick, of twenty- 
two guns, by the sloop of \\ar Wasp. 

Captain Jones had returned from France two weeks after the declara- 
tion of war, and on the 13th of October, again put to sea. On the 17th, 
he fell in with six merchant ships, under convoy of a brig and two ships, 
armed with sixteen guns each. The brig, which proved to be the Frolick, 
Captain Whinyatcs, dropped behind, while the others made sail. At half 
past eleven, the action began by the enemy's cannon and musketry. In 
five minutes the main-top-mast was shot away, and falling down with the 
main-top-sail yard across the larboard fore and fore-top-sail, rendered her 
head yards unmanageable during the rest of the action. In two minutes 
more, her gaff and mizen-top-gallant-mast were shot away. The sea 
being exceedingly rough, the muzzles of the Wasp's guns were sometimes 
under water. 

The English fired as their vessel rose, so that their shot was either 
thrown away, or touched only the rigging of the Americans ; the Wasp, 
on the contrary, fired as she sunk, and every time struck the hull of her 
antagonist. The fire of the Frolick was soon slackened, and Captain 
Jones determined to board her. As the crew leaped on board the ene- 
my's vessel, their surprise can scarcely be imagined, as they found no 
person on deck except three ofiicers and the seaman at the wheel. The 
deck was slippery with blood, and presented a scene of havoc and ruin. 
The officers now threw down their swords in submission, and lieutenant 
Biddle, of the Wasp, leaped into the rigging to haul down the colors, 
which were still flying. Thus, in forty-three minutes, ended one of the 
most bloody conflicts recorded in naval history. Tlic loss on board the 
Frolick, was thirty killed and fifty wounded ; on board the Wasp, five 
were killed, and five slightly wounded. The Wasp and Frolick were 
both captured the same day, by a British seventy-four, the Poictiers, Cap- 
tain Beresford. 

The above splendid achievement of Captain Jones was followed on the 
25th of October by a combat between the frigates, the United States, 
commanded by Commodore Decatur, and the Macedonian. The latter, 
after having suffered dreadfully and unaccountably in men and vessel, 
was obliged to surrender. These encounters, and the arguments they 
gave rise to, strongly sharpened the animosities on both sides, and cheer- 
ed the American war-party for the disappointments which they experi- 
enced by land. 

In November, Congress met ; and the President addressed it by mes- 
sage, in which he frankly stated the defeats experienced on the Canadian 
position, and complained much of the employment of the Indians by the 
British, thus bringing the horrors of savage warfare upon the land. He 
also complained of the conduct of Massachusetts and Connecticut in re- 
fusing their contingent of militia. The victories of American ships 
were cited with just pride ; and Congress was begged to extend some- 



150 MADISON. 

what their allowance to the army. So sparing had this been, that neither 
soldiers could be recruited nor general officers appointed, nor was there 
such a thing as a military staff. 

December 20th, a second naval victory was achieved by the Constitu- 
tion, then commanded by Commodore Bainbridge, over the Java, a British 
frigate of .thirty-eight guns, but carrying forty-nine, with four hundred 
men, commanded by Captain Lambert, who was mortally wounded. 

This action was fought off St. Salvador, and continued nearly two 
hours, when the Java struck, having lost sixty killed and one hundred and 
twenty wounded. The Constitution had nine men killed and twenty- 
five wounded. On the 1st of January, the commander, finding his prize 
incapable of being brought in, was obliged to burn her. 

During the winter, an engagement took place between the Hornet, 
Captain James Lawrence, and the British sloop of war Peacock, Captain 
William Peake, off South America. This action lasted but fifteen 
minutes, when the Peacock struck. 

On her surrendering, a signal of distress was discovered on board the 
Peacock. She had been so much damaged, that, already, she had six 
feet of water in her hold, and was sinking fast. Boats were immediately 
despatched for the wounded, and every measure taken, which was practi- 
cable, to keep her afloat until the crew could be removed. Her guns 
were thrown overboard, the shot holes were plugged, and a part of the 
Hornet's crew, at the imminent hazard of their lives, labored incessantly 
to rescue the vanquished. The utmost efforts of these generous men 
were, however, vain ; the conquered vessel sunk in the midst of them, 
carrying down nine of her own crew, and three of the Americans. With 
a generosity becoming them, the crew of the Hornet divided their clothing 
with the prisoners, who were left; destitute by the sinking ship. In the 
action the Hornet received but a slight injury. The killed and wounded, 
on board the Peacock, were supposed to exceed fifty. 

However considerable was the opposition to Mr. Madison's policy and 
administration in the eastern states, still the southern, increased by the 
number of the newly created states in the western territory, were enabled 
to out-vote their rivals on the grand presidential question. Mr. Madison 
was, without difficulty, re-elected to his second term of office ; whilst Mr. 
Gerry became Vice-President in the room of Clinton. The same pre- 
ponderance he was enabled to exercise in Congress, where a majority 
passed resolutions approving of the President's refusal to make peace, 
except upon the removal of the possibility of the English impressing or 
searching for American seamen. The British government, on its side, 
placed the principal ports and rivers of America at once in a state of 
blockade. In order, however, to favor such states as displayed aversion 
to the war, a system of licenses was adopted, in order to enable ships 
from their ports to enjoy a trade with the West Indies. The President 
was indignant at this tenderness shown by foreign for domestic foes, and 
he denounced it with great heat to the legislature. 

Winter had, in the mean time, brought no respite to war, even in those 
inclement countries. In January, 1813, the Americans, under General 
Winchester, marched to the recapture of Detroit. They were anticipated 



MADISON. 151 

by Colonel Procter, the British oflicer commanding in the conquered 
province ; who, with a body of reirular troops and Indians, coniplotoly 
defeated the Americans, took their loader and the jTreater number priso- 
ners. Of these, a great number fell sacrifices to the cruelty of the sa- 
vage Indians. Harrison himself was soon after besieged by the British in 
a fort which he had erected. Disaster in (his frontier, however, always 
brought the American side a reinforcement of spirited volunteers ; and 
the Kentucky men marched to take tlieir revenge upon Colonel Procter, 
and, in their first onset, dispossessed him of position and batteries. But 
the British returned to the charge, and, in their turn, routed the Ameri- 
cans fmally. 

The events of the war had by this time taught the Americans to reverse 
an opinion previously formed. They knew themselves far superior in 
force to the British in Canada, where tlie Indians alone restored propor- 
tion to the respective numbers. On land, therefore, they had reckoned 
to be victors ; whilst at .sea their numerical inferiority seemed to promise 
defeat : events had turned out directly contrary to this ; their soldiers had 
been beaten shamefully, their sailors were mostly victorious. The advantage 
was, therefore, seen, of converting, as far as it was po.ssible, the military 
operations on the side of Canada into naval ones. The nature of the 
position, passing through the great lakes, — seas in depth and e.vtent, — 
rendered this possible. 

Their first endeavors were directed to the fitting out of a squadron 
upon Lake Ontario, which should master its waters, and be able to con- 
vey to the several points upon it, possessed by the British, such force as 
Would be irresistible. Sackett's Harbor was the name of the chief 
American port upon the lake. Here a fleet was fitted out witii great 
activity and zeal, and, by the end of April, was ready to transport a small 
army. Upwards of two thousand men embarked, commanded by the 
American General, Pike. Tliese were wafted to the vicinity of York, 
the capital of Upper Canada, where the British had only a garrison of 
six hundred strong. This small force ollered every possible resistance. 
During the combat. General Pike was slain ; but his troops were too nu- 
merous for the enemy, and tlie British were obliged to surrender York 
Other expeditions were undertaken by the Americans upon dill'erent 
points, always with success, unless when, not content with getting pos- 
session of the place or tort attacked, they thought fit to pursue the 
retreating British. On one of these occasions, tlie Americans had two of 
their generals captured. Ujuin another, a detachment of eight hundred 
men, commanded by Colonel Boerstler, was surrounded and made pri- 
soners. 

The British, in the mean time, exerted themselves to rival their enemy 
upon the lakes. An attack, gallantly made, on Sackett's Harbor was 
repulsed ; but in a little time. Sir James Yeo was enabled to take the 
command of a flotilla, equal or superior to the Americans, which turned 
the advantage upon Lake Ontario against them. On Lake Champlain, 
also, the British had taken the start of their foes, and destroyed the 
American establishment of Plattsburg, in revenge for the affair of York, 
which had been twice captured and plundered. 



152 MADISON. 

It was upon Lake Erie, however, that the fiercest struorgle took place ; 
and it ended completely in favor of the Americans. The vessels equip- 
ped on both sides were mostly from fifty to sixty guns. The advantage 
of force was on the side of Perry, the American Commodore, who had 
nine of these vessels. Barclay, his antagonist, numbered six; these six, 
however, bearing more cannon than an equal number of their antagonists. 
The naval battle fought by these squadrons for the mastery of Lake Erie, 
was the most important which had yet occurred in the war. Perry, rush- 
ing headlong with his vessel into action, was at first disabled, and obliged 
to shift his flag ; but when all his force came up, the Canadian squadron 
was beaten in the fight, most of the officers killed, the ships disabled, and 
obliged to surrender.* " 

This was a source of great exultation to the Americans, whom it com- 
pensated for all previous losses. Nor were its consequences less important ; 
as the British forces were compelled to abandon the advantages and posi- 
tion which they previously won. Detroit, the first conquest of the war, 
was now given up ; and the retreat was not conducted with that skill and 
spirit which had marked previous operations. The Americans, under 
General Harrison, came up with Sir George Prevost, near the Moravian 
villages, on the Thames, and defeated him, with signal loss on the part 
of the British. Amongst the slain was the fiimous Indian chief, Tecum- 
seh,t brother of the Wabash prophet ; by which loss, as well as by the 
reverses of the war, these savage allies were much disheartened. 



* During the battle of Erie, the Lawrence, which Commodore Perry was on board 
of, was so shattered as to be entirely unmanageable, and only nine of her large crew 
remained. In this dilemma, Perry resolved to hoist the American flag on board a 
more fortunate vessel. For this purpose he entered an open boat, to pass over to 
the ship Niagara ; and though broadsides M'ere levelled at him, and showers of 
musketry from three of the enemy's ships, he remained standing in the stern of the 
boat, until alisohUely pulled down by the crew. The Americans watched him vnih 
breathless anxiety, as he passed through this scene of peril, and w\\\\ a transport of 
joy they saw his (lag hoisted at the mast head of the Niagara. Soon after he enter- 
ed that ship, a captain of one of the guns, having had all his men shot down, ap- 
proached him, and laying his hand on his shoulder, exclaimed, " For God's sake, sir, 
give me some more men." When all sense of personal danger was thus swallowed 
up in eagerness for victory, it is not surprising that Commodore Perry was able to 
write his strikingly laconic letter : " Dear Sir, We have met the enemy, and they are 
ours." 

t This Indian warrior was not only an accomplished miUtary commander, but also 
a great natural statesman and orator. Among the many strange, and some strongly 
characteristic events of his life, the council vvhich the American General, Harrison, 
held with the Indians at Vincennes, in 1811, affords an admirable instance of the 
sublimity which sometimes distinguished his eloquence. The chiefs of some tribes 
had come to complain of a purchase of lands which had been made from the 
Kickafoos. The council effected nothing, but broke up in confusion, in consequence 
of Tecumseh having called General Harrison " a liar.^' During the long talks 
wiiich took place in the conference, Tecumseh, having finished one of his speeches, 
looked round, and seeing every one seated, while no seat was prepared for him, a 
momentary frown passed over his countenance. Instantly General Harrison order- 
ed that a chair should be given him. Some person presented one, and bowing, said 
to him, '• Warrior, your father. General Harrison, offers you a seat." Tecumseh's 
dark eye flashed. " My father !" he exclaimed indignaatly, extending his arnw 



MADISON. 153 

The result of the operations of the north-west, and the victory on Lake 
Erie, prepared the way to attempt a more effectual invasion of Canada. 
General Wilkinson was now commanding the American forces in the 
north. General Dearborn having some time before retired on account of 
indisposition. The force destined for the contemplated invasion of Cana- 
da, amounted to twelve thousand men, — eight thousand of whom were 
stationed at Niagara, and four thousand at Plattsburg, under the command 
of General Hampton. In addition to these forces, those under General 
Harrison were expected to arrive in season to furnish important assis- 
tance. 

The outline of the plan which had been adopted, was to descend the 
St. Lawrence, passing the British forts above, and, after a junction with 
General Hampton, at some designated point on the river, to proceed to 
the Island of Montreal. Une.xpected difficulties, however, occurred, 
which prevented the execution of this plan, and the American forces 
retired into winter quarters at St. Regis. 

General Wilkinson concentrated his forces at Grenadier's Island, be- 
tween Sackett's Harbor and Kingston, one hundred and eighty miles 
from Montreal, by the way of the river. This place the army left, on the 
25th of October, on board the fleet, and descended the St. Lawrence, 
sanguine in the expectation of subduing Montreal. 

On the arrival of the flotilla at Williamsburg, November 9th, one thou- 
sand five hundred men, of General Boyd's brigade, were landed with a 
view to cover the boats in their passage through the rapids. On the 11th 
an engagement took place, which continued two hours, between this de- 
tachment of the American army, and a detachment of the British under 
Lieutenant Colonel Morrison. Both parties claimed the victory, but it 
vvas, properly, a drawn battle, the British retiring to their encampments, 
and the Americans to their boats. The loss of the British is not ascer- 
tained ; that of the Americans, in killed and wounded, was three hundred 
and thirty-nine. Among the latter was General Carrington, who died 
of his wounds. 

A few days previous to this battle, as General Harrison had not arrived. 
General Wilkinson despatched orders to General Hampton to meet him 
at St. Regis. To these orders, General Hampton replied, that it was 
impracticable to comply with them. On the receipt of this communica- 
tion, a council of officers was called, which advised to abandon the pro- 
ject and to retire. Accordingly, General Wilkinson ordered a retreat, and 
selected French Mills, as the winter quarters of his army. The troops 
of General Hampton soon followed this example. 

Thus ended a campaign which gave rise to dissatisfaction, proportion- 
ed to the high expectations that had been indulged of its success. Pub- 
lic opinion was much divided as to the causes of its failure, and as to the 
parties to whom the blame was properly to be attached. 

In the south-west a furious war was, at the same time, carried on be- 

towards heaven ; " the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother ; she gives me 
nourishment, and I repose upon her bosom." As he ended, he suddenly sealed him» , 
self on the ground. 

20 



154 MADISON. 

tween the Creek Indians and the Americans. The savages, never com- 
pletely pacified or reconciled to the Americans, had been roused by a 
visit from Tecumseh ; who, in the name of the great prophet, told them 
to arise and whet their tomahawks. On the last day of August, they 
surprised a fort on the Georgian frontier, and massacred all within, wo- 
men and children not excepted. General Jackson undertook to seek 
vengeance for this sanguinary outrage, and marched with a large body 
of militia into the wilds tenanted by the Creeks. These were not slow 
to meet their enemies ; and a series of bloody encounters ensued, in all 
of which, the Indians, though outnumbered, fought with their native 
desperation, and perished to a man. Jackson earned his renown by the 
martial spirit he displayed in these wars. The Indians had learned the 
art of entrenching themselves to advantage. Though beaten at Talla- 
poosa, they had caused the whites great loss. They made another stand 
at Tohopeka ; where a thousand chiefs withstood triple their force, and 
perished valiantly. At last, when the bravest and best of them had been 
carried off, they submitted. One of the remaining chiefs addressed Jack- 
son : — " Once I could animate my warriors ; but I cannot animate the 
dead. They can no longer hear my voice. Their bows are at Emuch- 
faw and Tohopeka. While a chance remained, I asked not for peace : 
but I now ask it for my nation and myself" 

At sea, the Americans this year had not so much cause for triumph, 
although their acknowledged character for equality with British skill and 
courage was well supported. In the month of February, the United 
States sloop Hornet, commanded by Captain Lawrence, was attacked by 
the Peacock, of about equal force. After twenty minutes' combat, the 
British crew were not only defeated, but their vessel sinking. There was 
not even time for saving the vanquished; the sloop going down with 
twelve persons, of whom three were American sailors, engaged in rescu- 
ing their foes. 

For this feat. Captain Lawrence, on his return to Boston, was promoted 
to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, of old famous. A British 
frigate, the Shannon, was soon off the harbor ; its commander. Captain 
Broke, was most desirous of wiping off some of the recent stains on the 
navy of his country ; and, with a view to effect this, he paid that severe 
attention to discipline and exercise which long superiority had taught the 
English to neglect. The Shannon stood in to Boston light-house, to 
challenge the Chesapeake. Captain Lawrence, with a crew chiefly en- 
listed for the occasion, accepted the defiance, and sailed out to meet the 
foe. The Chesapeake and Shannon joined ; when, afier fifteen minutes' 
firing, the British boarded, and carried the American ship. The gallant 
Lawrence, mortally wounded, refused to allow the colors to be struck, and 
died, while issuing the heroic order, " Don't give up the ship !" There 
needs no stronger proof of the equal valor of two brave nations, sprung 
from a common stock, than these alternate triumphs of that side which 
happened to be superior in discipline. 

A less noble species of warfare was earned on along the coasts of the sea 
and the great gulphs, by frequent landings from British vessels, to molest 
and plunder the inhabitants and ravage the country. Sometimes an un- 



MADISON. 155 

oflbnding village was cannonadotl. These exploits, intended to make the 
war uii])opular in America, had the contrary effect. The British, in judg- 
ing what their own feelings would be if similarly injured, might have 
adopted otiier measures of hostility towards an enemy of which so large 
a minority was averse to the war. 

Congress still supported the policy of Mr. Madison, however onerous 
and unusual the expense. The summer session was almost exclusively 
consumed in voting additional taxes; which, now that commerce was 
paralyzed, were necessarily, some of them, internal. Duties were levied 
upon wine, spirits, sugar, salt ; and a loan of upwards of seven millions 
of dollars was authorized. A still further demand of supply was made 
in January, 1814 ; a loan, treble the former amount, was raised, besides 
other modes having been devised of procuring funds. During the course 
of the year, the Emperor of Russia had offered his mediation between 
England and America. This latter country, always anxious to preserve 
amity with Russia, sent commissioners immediately to St. Petersburgh. 
Great Britain declined the mediation ; but professed herself willing to 
appoint on her side negotiators to treat, either in London, or in some neu- 
tral port. Gottenberg was selected for this purpose. 

At both extremities of the Lake Ontario, the war was continued, by 
desultory expeditions of either army, during the commencement of 1814. 
The British stormed and took Fort Niagara, and afterwards that of Os- 
wego. Li July, an encounter took place at Chippewa, between an 
American invading force under General Brown, and the British and 
Canadians under General Iliall. The latter attacked, but were repulsed, 
and, after a severe loss, were obliged to retreat. This gave confidence to 
the Americans. General Drummond soon after joined the Canadian 
army with reinforcements, and took the command. This rendering the 
contending forces more nearly equal, both parties marched to renew the 
contest. The battle took place near the celebrated falls of Niagara ; the 
Americans commencing the attack about the hour of sunset. It lasted till 
late in the night ; the work of slaughter being carried on by the light of 
the moon. Though bravely charging, the Americans could make no im- 
pression on the British ; while they themselves suffered dreadfully from 
the English guns, which played from an eminence in the centre of the 
field. Their efforts were accordingly directed against this battery ; and 
Colonel Miller led the American troops several times to its assault, gain- 
ing and losing possession alternately of the disputed point : he even 
brought up American cannon to support the attack, which presented the 
novel appearance of gun charging gun. On one occasion, cannons were 
actually exchanged in the confusion. As the night advanced, the conflict 
ceased, both parties claiming the victory. The Americans retained pos- 
session of the field. General Riall, severely wounded, was made priso- 
ner. The American Generals, Brown and Scott, were also, from their 
wounds, obliged to quit the field. 

The siege of Fort Erie was carried on for more than a month, marked 
by a daring attempt at taking it by storm, on the part of the British, and 
an equally gallant sortie made by the Americans. Both attempts were 
repulsed. But, in the end, a large American force marching to the 



15|) MADISON. 

relief of the fort, the besiegers drew off, whilst the besieged evacuated 
it; and the Americans finally retreated to their own side of the Niagara; 
the war in tliis quarter having given birth to many gallant achievements, 
but no conquest. 

Eastward of the great lakes, the Governor General of Canada resolved 
on an expedition, which, if it succeeded, would counterbalance the equal 
issue of operations on the Niagara. With a flotilla on Lake Champlain, 
and an army along its brink, he advanced to the attack of Plattsburgh. 
The fortune of the enterprise was decided in a naval engagement on the 
lake, between Commodore M'Donough and Captain Downie. The latter 
was slain early in the fight, and his vessel disabled, so that the British 
flotilla was completely defeated and taken by the enemy. Sir George 
Prevost was obliged, accordingly, to retreat ; having proved himself here, 
as in most instances where he personally commanded, to have been sin- 
gularly unfortunate. 

As the war in Europe was now over, the British ministry seemed 
determined to make the Americans, especially the more inveterate ene- 
mies of the southern provinces, feel more fully, than they had yet done, 
the inconvenience of having provoked the hostility of England. A 
squadron, under Sir Alexander Cochrane, having on board an army 
under General Ross, sailed up the Chesapeake in the month of August. 
From the open gulph it turned its course up the Patuxent, apparently in 
search of the American flotilla, which, under Commodore Barney, had 
taken shelter there. As the ships of war could not follow the flotilla up 
the river, tl)e army was disembarked at St. Benedict's to pursue it by 
'land. Its force was estimated at four thousand five hundred. At first 
no resistance was offered : for it appears that the American secretary of 
war could not bring himself to credit any serious intention of the English 
to- land.* General Ross, therefore, reached Marlborough, where the 
flotilla was destroyed, to prevent its falling into his power. But here the 
ultimate object of the disembarkation became evident, when the British 
columns, instead of returning, continued their march in the direction 
of Washington. 

The American commander. Winder, resolved, in consequence, to make 
a stand against the invaders; and, for this purpose, he chose a strong 
position at Bladensburg, covered by a branch of the Potomac. His force 
was much greater than that of the British, with whom, however, being 
the veterans of the peninsula, the raw militia of Virginia and Maryland 
could scarcely be expected to cope. The chief approach to Bladens- 
burg lay over a bridge, which was, of course, commanded by the Ameri- 
can artillery, and served by the seamen of the flotilla. These did their 
duty skilfully and bravely. The first company of the British that 
advanced upon the bridge (for General Ross did not tarry for a ford) was 

* " The force designated by the President was the double of what was necessary ; 
but failed, as is the general opinion, through the insubordination of Armstrong (who 
could never believe the attack intended until it was actually maae) and the sluggish- 
ness of Winder before the occasion, and his indecision during it." — Jefferson's Cat' 
respondence, vol. iv. p. 256. 



MADISON. #57 

swept away ; and it was not until the attacking army had crossed in force 
that the artillery could be mastered. The first regiments that crossed 
were rash in pushing the Americans, who retired ; they were accordingly 
severely handled, and repulsed at first. But after three hours' fighting, 
Bladensburg was abandoned by its defenders, who dispersed among the 
woods. The British soon after entered Washington. Their general 
wished to lay the city under contribution ; but his proposal not being 
hearkened to, orders were given to destroy all the public buildings. This 
barbarous order, which no plea can excuse, and which certainly was as 
impolitic for the future as unprofitable for the present, was executed with 
rigor. The docks, the shipping, the magazines, were, of course, fired : 
these were lawful objects of devastation. But the dooming of the senate- 
house, the President's palace, the library, to the same fate, was a piece 
of vandalism that covered the expedition with disgrace.* 

On the invasion of the capital, the President retired into Virginia, and 
on the first of September issued the following proclamation : 

" Whereas the enemy, by a sudden incursion, have succeeded in invad- 
ing the capital of the nation, defended at the moment by troops less 
numerous than their own, and almost entirely of the militia; during their 
possession of which, though for a single day only, they wantonly destroy- 
ed the public edifices having no relation in their structure to operations 
of war, nor used at the time for mi'itary annoyance ; some of these edi- 
fices being also costly monuments of taste and of the arts ; and others, 
depositories of the public archives, not only precious to the nation as the 
memorials of its origin and its early transactions, but interesting to all 
nations, as contributions to the general stock of historical instruction and 
political science : 

" And whereas advantage has been taken of the loss of a fort, more 



*After the retreat of the troops called to the defence of the capital, the enemy took 
possession of the battle ground, and many of them actually sunk to the ground with 
fatigue. They rested on their knapsacks, and were so exhausted by their rapid 
march, that they were unable to follow up their advantages by the pursuit of our 
army. The force that marched to the city two hours after the skirmish at Bladens- 
burg, consisted of about fifteen hundred men, who were not engaged in the action. 
They proceeded slowly and Avith great caution, as they apprehended an ambuscade, 
and believed that the battle was yet to be fought to decide the fate of the city. Ar- 
rived at the entrance of the town, opposite the residence of Mr. Gallatin, General 
Ross halted with his troops, expecting that the city would propose terms of capitu- 
lation. While ii^ this situation, a shot from Mr. Gallatin's house killed the horse on 
which General Ross rode. The house was instantly set on fire, and orders were at 
once given to burn the capitol. 

Admiral Cockburn was with the army, and, after the capitol was destroyed, he 
rode through the city on horseback. He met a gentleman in the street, and inquired 
for the printing office of tlie National IntelUgencer, observing " that he must visit 
that office, as his friend Gales had honored him with many hard rubs'." When he 
reached the office, two ladies from the adjoining houses came out, and begged him 
not to burn the buildings, as their houses woiTld inevitably share the same fate. The 
admiral very complacently replied, that for their sakes the office should not be burnt; 
and added with great politeness, " Be tranquil, ladies, you shall be as safely pro- 
tected under my administration as under that of Mr. Madison." He then sent a 
file of soldiers, to convey the types and other printing utensils from the office. 



158 MADISON. 

immediately jjiiarding the neighboring town of Alexandria, to place that 
town within the range of a naval force, too long and too nuich in the habit 
of abnsing its superiority wherever it can be applied, to require, as the al- 
ternative of a general conflagration, an undisturbed plunder of private 
property, which has been executed in a manner peculiarly distressing to 
the inhabitants, who had, inconsiderately, cast themselves on the gene- 
rosity of the victor : 

" And whereas it now appears, by a direct communication from the 
British naval commander on the American station, to be his avowed pur- 
pose to employ the force under his direction * in destroying and laying 
waste such towns and districts upon the coast as may be found assaila- 
ble ;' adding to this declaration the insulting pretext, that it is in retali- 
ation for the wanton destruction committed by the army of the United 
States in Upper Canada, when it is notorious that no destruction has been 
committed, wliich, notwithstanding the multiplied outrages previously 
committed by the enemy, was not unauthorized, and promptly shewn to 
be so ; and that the United States have been as constant in their endea- 
vors to reclaim the enemy from such outrages, by the contrast of their 
own example, as they have been ready to terminate, on reasonable con- 
ditions, the war itself: 

" And whereas these proceedings and declared purposes, which exhibit 
a disregard of the principles of humanity and the rules of civilized war- 
fare, and which nuist give to the existing war a character of extended 
devastation and barbarism, at the very moment of negotiations for peace 
invited by the enemy himself, leave no prospect of safety to any thing 
within the reach of his predatory and incendiary operations, but in a 
mauly and universal deteiniination to chastise and expel the invader : 

*' Now, therefore, I, James Madison, President of the United States, 
do issue this my proclamation, exhorting all the good people thereof to 
unite their hearts and hands in giving eilect to tlie ample means possess- 
ed tor that purpose. I enjoin it on all ollicers, civil and military, to exert 
themselves in executing the duties with wliich they are respectively 
charged. And more especially, I require the ollicers, counnanding the 
respective military districts, to be vigilant and alert in providing for the 
defence thereof; for the more eflbctual accomplishment of which, they 
are authorized to call to the defence of exposed and threatened places, 
portions of the militia most convenient thereto, whether they be or be not 
parts of the quotas detached lor tiie service of the United States under 
requisitions of the General Government. 

" On an occasion which apjieals so ibrcibly to the proud feeling and pa- 
triotic devotion of the American people, none will forget what they owe 
to themselves ; what they owe to their country and the high destinies 
which await it ; what to the glory acquired by their fathers, in establish- 
mg the independence which is now to be maintained by their sons, with 
the augmented strength and resources with which time and Heaven have 
blessed them." 

As the operations of the enemy, at this period of the war, created a 
general excitement throughout the country, their progress is amply illus- 
trated by contemporary descriptions. However willing we might be to 



MADISON. 159 

drop a ve.. over this scene in our history, the concealment of truth, and 
the tender treatment of misconduct, though the not inappropriate re- 
sources of eulogy, are unbecoming the just chronich^r of the actions of 
the great. If no discrimination be made between their good deeds and 
their errors, and tlie whole be enveloped in the language of general 
applause, posterity are deceived and the purposes of history are violated. 
It need not be concealed, that while the most bitter indignation existed 
towards the enemy, for their contem|)t of all tlie rules of honorable war- 
fare, in the destruction of the public buildings at Washiugiou, equal 
indignation was excited in respect to those wliose duty it was to have 
provided in the most suflicient manner for the defence of the capital, 
and to have perished beneath its ruins rather than have surrendered it 
ignominiously to a bloodless conquest. We present below the account of 
the capture, which is least discreditable to the parties interested. It is 
taken from a letter addressed to the editors of the Baltimore Patriot, and 
bearing date August 2(ith, 1814. 

" I arrived at Washington on Sunday, 21st instant. At that time the 
oflicers of government and the citizens were very ai)|U(diensive of an 
attack from the British, who had landed a force on the Patuxent. Their 
numbers had not been ascertained, but reports were various, stating them 
from one thousand to sixteen thousand. General Winder was stationed 
near the Wood Yard, with about two thousand men, hourly expecting 
large reinforcements from every quarter, particularly from Baltimore, 
three thousand men having been or«lered to march immediately from that 
place. On Sunday, the public officers were all engaged in jjacking off 
their books, and citizens their furniture. On Monday, this business was 
continued with great industry, and many families left the city. The 
specie was removed from all the banks in the District. Reports were 
very current, that Winder had received large reinforcements ; so that it 
was believed by many well informed persons, that he would have ten 
thousand men embodied in the course of the week. In the expectation 
that there was a very considerable force collected, the President, accom- 
panied by the Secretary of War, and of the Navy, left the city for tlie 
camp. They arrived there late that night ; and the next morning, find- 
ing but three thousand men, and learning that the Baltimore troops were 
encamped at Bladensburg, they returncHl to the city on Tuesday to make 
fiirther arrangements. AH the books and papers were sent off, and the 
citizens generally left the place. 

" In the course of that day, a scouting party from General Winder's 
army had a skirmish with the British advanced guard, and returned to 
camp with such tidings as induced General Winder to retire to the city, 
with his army, which he accomplished by nine o'clock in the evening, 
burnt the old bridge which crossed the Potomac, and encamped on the hill, 
directly above the other bridge, about one mile and a half from the n.avy 
yard, and prepared to defend that passage. In the event of the British 
lacing too strong, the bridge was to be blown up, for which he had every 
thing prepared. At this post he remained the whole night, expect- 
ing the enemy's forces. On Wednesday morning, I walked through 
the army, and remained at the bridge until ten o'clock, when advice was 



160 MADISON. 

received, that the enemy had taken the Bladensburg road. The troops 
vftre immediately put into motion, and by twelve o'clock the whole were 
on their march, in the hope of forming a junction with the Baltimore 
troops, before the enemy reached Bladensburg. This was only partially 
accomplished, when the battle commenced, and was contested by th^ 
Baltimore troops and the men from the flotilla, with great spirit and gal- 
lantry, until it appeared useless for so small a force, very badly supported, 
to stand against six thousand regulars, all picked men and ircll suijjilicd. 
A retreat was ordered, when the President, who had been on horseback 
with the army the whole day, retired from the mortifying scene, and left 
the city on horseback, accompanied by General Mason and Mr. Carroll. 
At Georgetown, the President met his hdy, she having left the city only a 
half hour before him, having remained with great firmness and compo- 
sure at the President's house, until a messenger brought her the tidings, 
that the British were within a few miles of the city, and that our army 
were retreating, without any chance of being rallied so as to check their 
march. 

" The President and Secretary of State went to Virginia with their 
families — the other oflicers of government went to Fredericktown, where 
the government is to be formed, and where the President intends to meet 
his secretaries next week. I remained at the President's house, until all 
our army had passed, and ninety-nine hundredths of the citizens gone, 
leaving nothing but empty walls. I fell into the trail of the army, and 
marched about four miles on the Frederick road. Being much fatigued, 
1 turned off into a wood, and found good quarters in a farmhouse, on the 
hill back of Pearce's. Soon after reaching there, at nine o'clock on 
Wednesday evening, a signal gun was discharged, and the President's 
house, the capitol, and many other public buildings, were at the same mo- 
ment in a blaze, which continued nearly all night. 

" On Thursday morning I proceeded on with the army to Montgomery 
court-house, where General Winder's head-quarters were established. I 
had some conversation with him. He appeared to regret very much that 
he had not been enabled to have made a greater resistance, although he 
was perfectly satisfied that a successful resistance could not have been 
made, with the force in the neighborhood of Washington, since, if it had 
all been brought togetlier before the action, it would not have been so 
large as that opposed to him, and our force was principally militia, and 
that of the enemy, all regulars and picked men. 

" The uncertainty on which road the enemy intended to attack the city, 
compelled him to keep his forces divided, and their being divided occa- 
sioned frequent marches and counter-marches, which at this hot season 
was quite too much for our militia." 

The work of destruction achieved, the British retreated without loss 
of time to their ships, and, re-embarking, sailed to menace and to ravage 
other points. Alexandria was captured, but ransomed all, save its stores 
and shipping. Baltimore was the next town devoted by the British to 
their vengeance. It was the most obnoxious and anti-federal, as well as 
important ; and was, consequently, considered a proper object of attack. 
General Ross landed about fifi^een miles from the city, at the head of 



MADISON. 161 

about five thousand men, on the 12th of September. The disaster of 
Washington, however j had inspired more Strenuous measures of defence ; 
and the Americans on this point were far better prepared. They occu- 
pied a strong position in advance of Bahiniore. In the first skirmish that 
occurred, the British commander was shot by a rifleman ; which damped 
the hopes, as well as deranged the projects, of the expedition. The 
English,, however, marched to the attack, and routed the Americans. 
However, there was still a stronger position behind, capable of a better 
defence. The co-operation of the fleet had been reckoned on to facilitate 
tlie carrying of this, which was, in fact, the heights above Baltimore. 
Admiral Cochrane, however, had found this impracticable from the shal- 
lowness of the harbor, as well as from the vessels sunk at its mouth. 
Those in command of the expedition accordingly abandoned its further 
prosecution ; the army retreated and again embarked. Afi^er some 
further cruises and menaces in the Chesapeake, the English fleet aban- 
doned it for a more remote enterprise. 

The following account of the attack on Baltimore is from the lettef of 
an eye-witness, bearing date Septembe'r 17, 1814 : '** 

" I will give you an account of the approach of the enemy before this 
place, so far as it came under niy own observation. On Saturday last, 
and the day previous, we had correct intelligence that the enemy had 
collected all his force, to the amount of forty-seven sail, and were pro- 
ceeding down the bay, consequently we were ledHo hope wtf should have a 
little rest fi'om our incessant labors, in preparing to resist them. On Satur- 
day noon. Major Armistead, the commander of Fort M'Henry, permitted 
Chief Justice Nicholson, who commands our volunteer corps of eighty 
men, to march to town, holding oifrselves in readiness to return the mo- 
ment he thought prudent to call. As it turned out, while we were 
marching to town, the enemy tacked about, and just at dusk were seen 
under a press of sail, with a fair wind, approaching the town. Their 
movements were closely watched at the fort, and at half past nine 
o'clock, Judge Nieholson received orders to repair to the fort with his 
men. We were all immediately rallied, and arrive'd at the fort before 
twelve, although the rain poured down in torrents. On oiw arrival, we 
found the matches burning, the furnaces heated and vomiting red-hot 
shot, and every thing ready for a gallant defence. At this time tlie enemy 
had arrived as far up as North Point, twelve miles l>clow the fort. We 
remained at our posts till daylight, at which time the enemy remained at 
the same place, some at anchor and others under eas^ sail, lying oflf 
and on. 

" They cdfitinued this kind of movement all day on Sunday. During 
the succeeding night and the forepart of Monday, they were busily employ- 
ed in landing their troops, but all was quiet on the part of the naval ope- 
ration against the fort, till Tuesday morning, at which time they had 
advanced to within two and a half miles of the fort, arranged in most 
elegant order, all at anchor, forming a half circle, with four bomb-vessels 
una a rocket ship, stretched from right to left, in the advance. The 
action commenced on their part by the discharge of a few rockets, 
which were harmless indeed. These, I am sure, were not intended as an 
21 



162 MADISON. 

attack upon us, but fired as a signal to inform their land troops of their 
readiness for co-operation. 

" Iniiiiedialely after these discharges, two of the headmost frigates 
opened upon us, hut finding their shot not reaching us, they ceased and ad- 
vanced up a little nearer. The moment tlicy had taken their position, 
Mi'jor Arinistcad mounted the parapet, and ordered a battery of twenty-four 
pounders to he opened upon them ; inunediately after a battery of forty- 
twos followed, and then the whole fort let drive at them. We could 
see the shot strike the frigates in several instances, when every heart was 
gladdened, and we gave three cheers, the music playing Yankee Doodle. 
Upon tiiis the frigates stood off, and, in five minutes, all lay just out of 
reach of our shot. The bomb-vessels advanced a little, and commenced 
a tremendous bombardment, which lasted all day and all night, with 
hardly a moment's intermission. 

" Finding our shot would not rcn-ch them, the cannonading, which was 
sublime and enlivening, was ordered to be closed. We then resorted to 
our mortars, and fired six or eight, but, sorrowful to relate, they, like our 
shot, fell short, owing to their chambers not being so deep as those of the 
enemy. Here then we were again foiled, and were reduced to the dread 
ful alternative of facing by far the most tremendous bombardment ever 
known in tliis country, without any means of resisting it — upwards of 
one tliousand five inindrcd bombs having fallen in and about the fort. 
Fortunately but little damage was done. In our company we had six 
severely wounded, and two killed. Sergeant Clemni, a young man of 
most amiable character, gentlemanly manners, and real courage, was 
killed by my side ; a bomb bursting overhead, a piece of the size of a 
dollar, two inches thick, passed through his body in a diagonal direction 
from his navel, and went into the ground upwards of two feet It was 
dug up immediately after, and is preserved by his friends. Instantly 
before this, a bomb struck the bastion, then in charge of Lieutenant 
Claggett, our third, which killed him upon the spot, wounded four men, dis- 
mounted a twenty- four pounder, broke the carriage wheel, and did con- 
siderable other damage. This happened on my right, about twenty-five 
paces distant. In the whole we had seven killed in the fort, and fifteen 
wounded. 

" From twelve to one o'clock in the night, the enemy slackened a little; 
during which time, a picked party of mariners towed up in a silent 
manner, a bomb-vessel, which got almost in rear of our fort, unobserved 
by the look-outs, on account of the extreme darkness of the night. After 
choosing her position, she began on our right, in high style. Cap- 
tains Evans and Nicholson were instantly ordered to open their batteries 
of twenty-fours with grape and canister, which was immediately followed 
by Fort Covington, a tight little place one and a half miles above us. 
The enemy likewise poured in their canister and grape, but in less than 
five minutes was silenced, and we heard no more of them from that 
quarter, but the bombardment was kept up from their old position, with 
increased fury, till dawn of day, when they appeared to be disposed to 
decline the unprofitable contest. At this time our morning gun was fired, 
the flag hoisted, Yankee Doodle played, and we all appeared in full v'xcw 



MADISON. 168 

of a formidable and mortified enemy, who calculated upon our surren- 
der in twenty minutes after the commencement of the action." 

On the nineteenth of September, the day assigned for the meeting of 
Congress, tlie members assembled at Washington in rooms hastily fitted 
up for their reception. The roll of the Senate was called, and it appear- 
ed that nineteen members only were present. Tlie Vice-President not 
having arrived, the Hon. John Gaillard, of South Carolina, took the chair 
as President pro tempore of the Senate. In the House, the Speaker, Hon. 
Laiigdon Cheevcs, took the chair, at twelve o'clock, and ninety-four mem- 
bers appeared in their seats. As there was not a quorum present, the 
House separated by special consent till five o'clock in the evening. A 
sufficient numl)er having then been formed, a committee was appointed 
to join the committee of the Senate, to wait on the President, and inform 
liim they were ready to receive any communication he might intend to 
offer. On the following day, tlie President transmitted the usual Mes- 
sage to Congress by Mr. Edward Cole, his secretary. This document we 
copy almost entire. The view which it takes of our military affairs, and of 
our existing relation towards the enemy, renders it valuable and interesting. 

" In the events of the present campaign, the enemy, with all his aug- 
mented means and wanton use of them, has little ground for exultation, 
unless he can feel it in the success of his recent enterprises against this 
metropolis and the neighboring town of Alexandria ; from both of 
which his retreats were as precipitate as his attempts were bold and fortu- 
nate. In his other incursions on our Atlantic frontiers, his progress, 
often checked and chastised by the martial spirit of the neighboring 
citizens, has had more effect in distressing individuals, and in dishonor- 
ing his arms, than in promoting any object of legitimate warfare. 
And in the two instances mentioned, however deeply to be regretted on 
our part, he will find in his transient success, which interrupted for a mo- 
ment only the ordinary public business at the seat of government, no 
compensation for the loss of character with tlie world by this violation of 
private property, and by his destruction of public edifices, protected as 
monuments of the arts by the laws of civilized warfare. 

" On our side, we can appeal to a series of achievements, which have 
given new lustre to the American arms. Besides the brilliant incidents 
in the minor operations of the campaign, the splendid victories gained on 
the Canadian side of the Niagara, by the American forces under Major 
General Brown, and Brigadiers Scott and Gaines, have gained for these 
heroes and their emidating companions, the most unfading laurels; and 
having triumphantly tested the progressive discipline of the American 
soldiery, have taught the enemy that the longer he protracts liis hostile 
efforts, the more certain and decisive will be his final discomfiture. 

" On the southern border, victory has continued also to follow the 
American standard. The bold and skilful operations of Major-General 
Jackson, conducting troops drawn from the militia of the states least dis- 
tant, particularly of Tennessee, have subdued the principal tribes of hostile 
savages, and by establishing a peace with them preceded by recent and 
exemplary chastisement, has best guarded against the mischief of their 
co-operation with the British enterprises which may be planned against 



164 MADISON. 

that, quarter of our country. Important tribes of Indians on our north- 
western frontier have also acceded to stipulations, wliicli bind them to the 
interests of the United States, and to consiser our enemy as theirs also. 

" In the recent attempt of the en(>my on (lie city of Baltimore, defend- 
ed by militia and volunteers, aided by a small body of regulars and sea- 
men, he was received with a spirit which produced a rapid retreat to the 
ships, whilst a concurrent attack by a large fleet was successfully re- 
sisteil by the steady and well directed fire of the fort and batteries oppos- 
ed to it. 

" In another recent attack by a powerfid force on our troops at Platts- 
burg, of which regulars made a part only, the enemy, after a perseve- 
rance for many hours, was finally compelled to seek safety in a hasty 
retreat, with our gallant bands pressing upon him. 

" On the lakes, so much contested throughout the war, the great 
exertions for the connuaud made on our part have been well repaid. On 
Lake Ontario, our sijuadron is now, and has been for some time, in a con- 
dition to confuie that of the enemy to his own port; and to lavor the 
operations of our land forces on that frontier. 

" A part of the squadron on Lake Erie has been extended to Lake 
Huron, and has produced the advantage of displaying our conuuand of 
that lake also. One object of the expedition was the reduction of Macki- 
naw, wiiich failed, with the loss of a few brave men, among whom was 
an oflicer justlv distinguished for his gallant exploits. The ex])edition, 
ably conducted by both the land ami naval cununanders, was otherwise 
valuable in its eflects. 

" On Lake Clunuplain, where our superiority had for some time been 
undisputed, the British squadron lately came into action with the Ame- 
rican, conunanded by Captain M'Donongh. It issued in the capture of the 
whole of the enemy's ships. The best praise of this oflicer and his intre- 
pid comrades is in the likeness of his triumph to the illustrious victory, 
wliich inuuortali/ed another oflicer, and established, at a critical moment, 
our command of another lake. 

" On the ocean, the pride of our naval arms has been amply support- 
ed. A .seooiul frigate has indeed fallen into the hands of the enemy, 
but the loss is hidden in the blaze of heroism with which she was defend- 
ed. Captain Porter, who commanded her, and whose previous career 
had been distinguished by daring enterprise and by fertility of genius, 
maintained a sanguinary contest against two ships, one of them superior 
to his own, and other severe disadvantages, till humanity tore down the 
colors which valor had nailed to the mast. This oflicer and his brave 
comrades have added much to the rising glory of the American flag, and 
have merited all the efl'usions of gratitude which their country is ever 
ready to bestow on the champions of its rights and of its safety. 

" Two smaller vessels of war have also become prizes to the enemy, 
but by a superiority of force which sufliciently vindicates the reputation 
of their couuuanders ; whilst two others, one commanded by Captain 
Warrington, the other by Captain Rlakely, have captured British ships of 
the same class, with a gallantry and good conduct, which entitled them 
and their companions to a just share in the praise of their country. 



MADISON. 165 

" In spite of the naval force of the enemy accumulated on our coasts, 
our private cruisers also liave not ceased to annoy his commerce, and to 
bring their rich prizes into our ports ; coutributintr thus, with other proofs, 
to demonstrate the incompetency and the illegality of a blockade, the 
proclamation of which is made the pretext for vexing and discouraging 
the connnerce of neutral powers with the United States. 

" To meet the extended and diversified warfare adopted by the enemy, 
great bodies of militia have been taken into service for the public defence, 
and great expenses incurred. That the defence every where may be 
botli more convenient and more economical, Congress will see the neces- 
sity of innnediate measures for tilling the ranks of the regular army ; and 
of enlarging the provisions for special corps, mounted and unmounted, 
to be engaged for longer periods of service than are due from the militia. 
I earnestly renew, at the same time, a recommendation of such changes 
in the system of the militia, as, by classing and disciplining for tlie most 
prompt and active service the portions most capable of it, will give to that 
great resource for the public safety, all the requisite energy and etli- 
ciency. 

" The monies received into the Treasury, during the nine months ending 
on the UUli day of June last, amounted to thirty-two millions of dollars, 
of which eleven millions were the proceeds of the public revenue, and the 
remainder derived from loans. The disbursements for public expendi- 
tures, during the same period, exceeded thirty-four millions of dollars, and 
letl in the Treasury on the 1st of July, near live millions of dollars 
The demands during the remainder of the present year, already autho- 
rized by Congress, and the expenses incident to an extension of the opera- 
tions of the war, will render it necessary that large sums should be pro- 
vided to meet them. 

" From this view of the national affairs. Congress will be urged to take 
up without delay, as well the subject of pecuniary supplies as that of mili- 
tary force, and on a scale connnensurate with the extent and character 
which the war has assumed. 

" It is not to be disguised, that the situation of our country calls for its 
greatest elTorts. Our enemy is powerful in men and money ; on the land 
and on the water. Availing himself of fortuitous advantages, he is aim- 
ing, with an undivided force, a deadly blow at our growing prosperity, 
perhaps at our national existence. lie has avowed his purpose of tramp- 
ling on the usages of civilized warfare, and given earnests of it in the 
plunder and wanton destruction of private property. In his pride of 
maritime dominion, and in his thirst of commercial monopoly, he strikes 
with peculiar animosity at the progress of our navigation and of our ma- 
nufactures. His barbarous policy has not even spared those monuments 
of the arts, and models of taste, with which our country had enriched and 
embellished its infant metropolis. From such an adversary, hostility in 
its greatest force and worst fl)rms may be looked for. The American 
people will face it with the undaunted spirit which, in their revolutionary 
struggle, defeated his unrighteous projects. His threats and his barbari- 
ties, instead of dismay, will kindle in every bosom an indignation not to 
bo extinguished but in the disaster and expulsion of such cruel invaders. 



166 MA-DISON. 

In providing the means necessary, the National Legislature will not 
distrust the heroic and enlightened patriotism of its constituents. They 
will cheerfully and proudly bear every burden of every kind, which the 
safety and honor of the nation demand. We have seen them every 
where paying their taxes, direct and indirect, with the greatest prompt- 
ness and alacrity. We see them rushing with enthusiasm to scenes 
where danger and duty call. In offering their blood, they give the 
surest pledge that no olher tribute will be withheld. 

" Having forborne to declare war until to other aggressions had been 
added the capture of nearly a thousand American vessels, and the im- 
pressment of thousands of American seafaring citizens, and until a final 
declaration had been made by the government of Great Britain, that her 
hostile orders against our commerce would not be revoked but on condi- 
tions as impossible as unjust; whilst it was known that these orders 
would not otherwise cease, but with a war which had lasted nearly twenty 
years, and which, according to appearances at that time, might last as 
many more; having manifested, on every occasion and in every proper 
mode, a sincere desire to arrest the effusion of blood, and meet our 
enemy on the ground of justice and reconciliation, our beloved country, 
in still opposing to his persevering hostility all its energies, with an undi- 
minished disposition towards peace and friendship on honorable terras, 
must carry with it the good wishes of the impartial world, and the best 
hopes of support from an omnipotent and kind Providence." 

In the north-eastern parts of the Union, scenes were now enacting, 
similar to those which had disgraced the British on the southern coasts. 
At Hampden, in Maine, the destruction of private property by the British 
squadron was very great. It appears to have proceeded, however, 
from the lawless spirit of the soldiers, and not to have been directly 
authorized by the commanding officers, as the destruction of the shipping 
was stopped by order of Sir John Sherbrooke, and several sailors were 
arrested for pillaging dwelling-houses. Castine was taken, and the 
British soldiers were kept continually employed in erecting fortifications 
there. Most of the trees in the place were cut down, and a considerable 
distance in the vicinity was cleared to prevent the unexpected approach 
of an enemy. Between fifty and an hundred pieces of cannon were 
mounted, and a canal was commenced from Castine river to the Penobscot, 
to separate the town from the main. Four large, and several smaller forts 
were built, and the whole town was put in a posture of complete defence.* 



* Among the other exploits which did honor to the British arms, was one of SirG. 
Collier, who commanded the ship Leander, and made his appearance off a small cove, 
below Sandy Bay, Cape Ann, and manned three barges which stood for the cove. 
About fifty men collected from the vicinity, and with a six pounder and musketry, 
exchanged several fires with the barges, when they returned to the ship. A fiag was 
immediately despatched from the Leander, bearing the following note from the 
commander : 

" Leander, 1, P. M., TuEsr ay. 

" Sir George Collier believes the boat, on shore, a fisherman. He desires to examine 
her without recourse to arms, and if objected to, he will land and destroy every house 
within two miles of the cove. This the inhabitants may rely upon. G. Collier." 



MADISON. 167 

The commissioners of both nations had, in the mean time, met, not, 
as had been first arranged, at Gottenberg, but at Ghent. The triumph 
of the British/over Bonaparte had naturally increased the arrogance of 
their tone, whilst the ravaging expeditions on the American coast, con- 
trasted with the state of the war in Canada, confirmed the Americans in 
their proud determination not to yield. The English demanded that no 
fiirther acquisition of territory should be made at the expense of the In- 
dians. To this and other demands the American commissioners objected; 
and the first attempts at an accommodation altogether failed. 

Ill the mean time the exasperation of the federalists — more properly 
of the parly averse to war in the New-England states — grew to a height 
that almost menaced a revolution. Mr. Strong, the Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, was at the head of this party ; and his addresses to the legisla- 
ture of his state vied with those of the President to Congress in strength 
and bitterness, but with sentiments directly opposite. " The lovers of 
peace," said he, " are accused of being under British influence. Those 
of war are as much instigated by French influence." Distress was at the 
bottom of this discontent ; for Massachusetts had not only traded in 
British manufactures, but, from the long credit given by the merchants 
of that country, literally traded upon the capital of the latter. Of these 
great advantages war deprived them. To alleviate this distress somewhat, 
the rigor of the laws prohibiting both imports and exports was relaxed; 
and as the enemy's. fleet had hitherto confined their blockade to the 
southern ports, it was hoped that Boston and New- York might enjoy a 
circuitous or indirect trade, which would reconcile them to the war. 
Great Britain, however, about this time, freed from the necessity of keep- 
ing her cruisers around the shores of Europe, despatched them to Ameri- 
ca, and enforced her blockade all along the coast, in order to protect her 
trade more effectually from the privateers of her foe. 

The New-Englanders not only felt this, but they saw Britain so victo- 
rious in her European struggle, that it seemed madness to resist her. 
The destruction of Washington, the ravage of the banks of the Chesa- 
peake, showed what was to be expected from a continuance of hostilities. 
Towards the close of the year they, consequently, attacked the govern- 
ment more virulently than ever, accusing it of first exciting the war gra- 
tuitously, persevering in it obstinately, yet taking none of the requisite 
measures for preserving the country from insult or conquest. To remedy 
this crying evil, by which one section of states were sacrificed to the 
interests of another, they proposed a convention of delegates from the 
different sections of the Union to be summoned to meet at Hartford, in 
order to take into consideration the changes to be made in the Constitu- 
tioo- This was the most serious schism that had as yet menaced the 
integrity of the Federal Union. The Hartford Convention met, though 
attended merely by the delegates of the anti-war, or north-eastern states. 
Their discussions were kept secret, and they separated for the time, after 
merely venting their grievances in a public address. 

This dangerous spirit, as well as the distresses of the government, be- 
coming most formidable in a financial point of view, were arrested by the 
tidings, that peace at length had been signed at Ghent, in December. 



168 ••MADISON. 

These tidings, however, did not arrive until the army, victorious at 
Washington, had received a check, which terminated the war in a man- 
ner glorious to the nation, and much to the support of the political party 
in power. We refer, of course, to the battle of New Orleans, a detailed 
account of which has been given in another part of ti.o volume. 

The capture of the President, an American frigate, by the Endymion, 
which took place about the same time, off New- York, after a sharp con- 
test, was no counterpoise to this disaster ; nor yet the taking of Fort 
Mobile by the army that had retreated from New-Orleans. 

The news of peace came to America amidst the rejoicings for the vic- 
tory of New-Orleans. It was doubly welcome, because so gloriously 
terminated. Great Britain made no demands ; and when the Americans 
desisted from theirs, — which, indeed, the cessation of war left no room 
for, since impressment and the right of search were applicable merely to 
war, — (here seemed scarcely a stipulation necessary. All that England 
insisted on was the abolition of the slave trade. The settlement of the 
boundary line on the side of Canada was left to commissioners of both 
nations. On the 17th of February, 1815, the President and Senate rati- 
fied the treaty of Ghent ; and North-America breathed, with Europe, free 
from the horrors of war. 

In the good humor of the moment, the ruling party seems to have lost 
much of its anti-British rancor. A commercial treaty was concluded 
upon fair terms between the countries. The Americans were permitted 
by England to trade with the East and the West-Indies ; on the condition, 
however, of transferring the produce directly to their own ports. For 
some time, the old illiljeral policy towards England was allowed to lie 
dormant. A stite of hostility, however, gives to a numerous class of 
persons certain occupations and interests necessarily arising out of, and 
depending on war. Such persons, although they dared not abet such a 
proposal as eternal war, still wished for a state, as far as commerce and 
manufactures were concerned, tantamount to it. Whilst shut out from 
England, the Americans had begun to fabricate divers articles of neces- 
sity for themselves ; of course, at a dearer rate, and with less skill, than 
those excluded. Peace brought back the cheap and the good commodity 
from England. The American could not stand the competition ; and 
exclaimed against the want of patriotism in sacrificing him to foreigners. 
The infant manufactures of the country, argued the manufacturers, ought 
to be supported. Petitions and addresses to this effect soon crowded the 
table of Congress ; and as the consumer was not so early alive to his 
interests as the manufacturer, the complaint of the former made impres- 
sion and won favor by its plausibility. Mr. Madison, himself, jealous of 
the decline of manufactures, and still more of shipping, owing to J;he 
rivalry of the British, felt his old prejudices revive ; and his messages to 
Congress soon came to recommend prohibitory measures and conservative 
duties. 

The summer of 1816 passed away without being marked by any events 
of peculiar moment. The country appeared to be gradually recovering 
from Ihe embarrassments induced by the war, and that^sperity of feeling, 
which had agitated the different political parties in the United States, was 



MADISON. 169 

visibly wearing away. Congress met in December. In the conclusion 
of his message at the opening of the session, Mr. Madison, anticipating 
the speedy arrival of the day, when he should retire from the presidency, 
took occasion to express his attachment for his country, and his wishes 
for her future peace and prosperity : 

" I can indulge the proud reflection," said he, " that the American people 
have reached in safety and success, iheir fortieth year, as an independent 
nation ; that for nearly an entire generation, they have had experience of 
their present Constitution, the offspring of their undisturbed deliberations 
and of their free choice ; that they have found it to bear the trials of 
adverse as well as prosperous circumstances, to contain in its combina- 
tion of the federate and elective principles, a reconcilement of public 
strength with individual liberty, of national power for the defence of 
national rights, with a security against wars of injustice, of ambition, or 
of vain glory, in the fundamental provision which subjects all questions 
of war to the will of the nation itself, which is to pay its costs, and feel 
its calamities. Nor is it less a peculiar felicity of this Constitution, so 
dear to us all, that it is found to be capable, without losing its vital ener- 
gies, of expanding itself over a spacious territory, with the increase and 
expansion of the community, for whose benefit it was established." 

On leaving the Presidential chair, Mr. Madison passed the remainder 
of his life in a dignified and honorable retirement. Without mingling in 
the petty and distracting discussions of the day, he has always been 
ready to express his opinions on the great constitutional questions in re- 
gard to which he has been consulted. No man perhaps was so familiar 
with the history of the Constitution, so thoroughly understood it, or spec- 
ulated with so much clearness and felicity on its principles, as Mr. Madi- 
son. The letter which he wrote in August, 1830, on the agitating topic 
of nullification, is so admirable and conclusive that we shall insert entire. 
This letter paper was addressed to Mr. Edward Everett, now governor of 
Massachusetts, and first appeared in the North American Review. With 
the farewell address of the father of his country — that immortal compendj 
of reflective wisdom and patriotic counsel — it should be imprinted on the 
mind and the heart of every citizen. To all who love their country, it 
cannot but be a source of regret that such an oracle has been silenced. 

" MoNTPELiER, August, 1830. 
" Dear Sir: 

" I have duly received your letter, in which you refer to the ' nulli- 
fying doctrine,' advocated as a constitutional right by some of our dis- 
tinguished fellow-citizens ; and to the proceedings of the Virginia Legis- 
lature in '98 and '99, as appealed to in behalf of that doctrine ; and you 
express a wish for my ideas on those subjects. 

" I am aware of the delicacy of the task in some respects, and the 
difficulty, in every respect, of doing full justice to it. But having, in 
more than one instance, complied with a like request from other friendly 
quarters, I do not decline a sketch of the views which I have been led to 
take of the doctrine in question, as well as some others connected with 
them ; and of the grounds from which it appears that the proceedings of 
22 



no MADISON. 

Virginia have been misconceived by those who have appealed to tlicni. 
In ortU'v to undc^rsland the true chtiractor of the Constitution of the 
United States, tlu; error, not uncommon, must be avoided, of viewing it 
through the medium, either of a Consolidated Government, or of a Fede- 
rated Government, whilst it is neither the one nor the other ; but a mix- 
ture of both. And having, in no model, the similitudes and analogies 
applicable to other systems of government, it must, more than any other, 
be its own interpreter, according to its text and the facts of the case. 

" From these it will be seen that the characteristic peculiarities of the 
Constitution are, 1, the mode of its formation ; 2, the division of the su- 
preme powers of government between the states in their united capacity, 
and the states in tlieir individual capacities. 

" 1. It was formed, not by the governments of the component states, as 
the Federal Governn)ent, for which it was substituted, was formed. Nor 
was it formed by a majority of tlie people of the United States, as a single 
connnunity, in tiie manner of a Consolidated Government. 

" It was formed by the states, that is, by the people in each of the 
states, acting in their highest sovereign capacity ; and formed conse- 
quently, by the same authority which formed the State Constitutions. 

" Being tluis derived from the same source as the constitutions of the 
states, it has, within each state, the same authority as the constitution 
of the state : and is as much a constitution, in the strict sense of the 
term, within its prescribed sphere, as the constitutions of the states are, 
within their respective spheres ; but with this obvious and essential diP- 
ference, that being a compact among the states in their highest sovereign 
capacity, and constituting the people thereof one people for certain pur- 
poses, it cannot be altered or annulled at the will of the states individu- 
ally, as the constitution of a state may be at its individual wdl. 

"2. And that it divides the supreme powers of govennnent, between 
the government of the United States, and the governments of the indi- 
vidual states, is stamped on the face of the instrument ; the powers of 
war and of taxation, of conmierce and of treaties, and other enumerated 
powers vested in the Government of the United States, being of as high 
and sovereign a character as any of the powers reserved to the state 
governments. 

"Nor is the Government of the United States, created by the Consti- 
tution, less a government in tlie strict sense of the term, within the sphere 
of its powers, than the governments created by the constitutions of the 
states are, within their several spheres. It is, like them, organized into 
Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary departments. It operates, like 
them, directly on persons and things. And, like them, it has at connnand 
a physical force for executing the powers committed to it. The concur- 
rent operation in certain cases, is one of the features marking the pecu- 
liarity of the system. 

" Between these different constitutional governments, the one operating 
in all the states, the others operating separately in each, with the aggre- 
gate powers of government divided between them, it could not escape 
attention, that controversies would arise concerning the boundaries of 
jurisdiction ; and that some provision ought to be made for such occur- 



MADISON. 171 

fences. A political system that does not provide for a peaceable and au- 
thoritative termination of occurrin<^ controversies, would not be more than 
the shadow of a government; the object and end of a real government 
being the substitution of law .and order, for uncertainty, confusion, and 
violence. 

" That to have left a final decision, in such cases, to each of tlio states, 
then thirteen, and already twenty-four, could not fail to make the Consti- 
tution and Laws of the United States different in different states, was 
obvious ; and not less obvious, that this diversity of independent decisions 
must altogether distract the Government of the Union, and speedily put 
an end to the Union itself A uniform authority of the Laws is in itself 
,a vital principle. Some of the most important laws could not be partially 
executed. They must be executed in all the states, or they could be 
duly executed in none. An impost, or an excise, for example, if not in 
force in some states, would be defeated in others. It is well known that 
this was among the lessons of experience which had a primary influence 
in bringing about the existing constitution. A loss of its general authori- 
ty would moreover revive the exasperating questions between the states 
holding ports for foreign commerce, and the adjoining states without 
them ; to which are now added all the inland states, necessarily carrying 
on their foreign commerce through other states. 

" To have made the decisions under the authority of the individual 
states, co-ordinate, in all cases, with decisions under the authority of the 
United States, would unavoidably produce collisions incompatible with 
the peace of society, and with that regular and efficient administration, 
which is of the essence of free governments. Scenes could not be avoid- 
ed, in which a ministerial officer of the United States, and the correspon- 
dent officer of an individual state, would have rencounters in executing 
conflicting decrees ; the result of which would depend on the compara- 
tive three of the local posses attending them; and that, a casualty depend- 
ing on the political opinions and party feelings in different states. 

" To have referred every clashing decision, under the two authorities 
for a final decision to the states as parties to the constitution, would be 
attended with delays, with inconveniences, and with expenses, amounting 
to a prohibition of the expedient ; not to mention its tendency to impair 
the salutary veneration for a system requiring such frequent interpositions, 
nor the delicate questions which miglit present themselves as to the form 
of stating the appeal, and as to the quorum for deciding it. 

" To have trusted to negotiation for adjusting disputes between the 
Government of the United States and the State Governments, as between 
independent and separate sovereignties, would have lost sight altogether 
of a Constitution and Government for the Union, and opened a direct road 
from a failure of that resort, to the ultima ratio between nations wholly 
independent of and alien to each other. If the idea had its origin in the 
process of adjustment, between separate branches of the same govern- 
ment, the analogy entirely fails. In the case of disputes between inde- 
pendent parts of the same government, neither part being able to consum- 
mate its will, nor the government to proceed without a concurrence of the 
parts, necessity brings about an accommodation. In disputes between a 



172 MADISON. 

State Government, and the Government of the United States, the case is 
practically as well as theoretically different; each party possessing all the 
departments of an organized government, Legislative, Executive, and 
Judiciary, and having each a physical force to support its pretensions 
Although tlic issue of negotiation niiglit sometimes avoid this extremity, 
how often would it happen, among so many states, that an unaccommo- 
dating spirit in some, would render that resource unavailing 1 A contrary 
supposition would not accord with a knowledge of lumian nature, or the 
evidence of our own political history. 

" The Constitution, not relying on any of the preceding modifications, 
for its safe and successful operation, has expressly declared, on the one 
hand, 1, 'that the Constitution, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, 
and all treaties made under the authority of the United States, shall be 
the supreme law of the land ; 2, that the Judges of every state shall be 
bound thereby, any thing in the constitution and laws of any state to the 
contrary notwithstanding ; 3, that the judicial power of the United 
States shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under the con- 
stitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made under their 
authority, &.C.' 

"On the other hand, as a security of the rights and powers of the 
states in their individual capacities, against an undue preponderance 
of the powers granted to the government over them in their united ca- 
pacity, the Constitution has relied on, 1, the responsibility of the Sena- 
tors and Representatives in the Legislature of the United States to the 
Legislatures and people of the states ; 2, the responsibility of the Presi- 
dent to the people of the United States; and, 3, the liability of the 
Executive and Judicial functionaries of the United States to impeach- 
ment by the Representatives of the people of the states, in one branch 
of the Legislature of the United States, and trial by the Representatives 
of the states, in the other branch : the state functionaries. Legislative, 
Executive, and Judicial, being, at the same time, in their appointment 
and responsibility, altogether independent of the agency or authority of 
the United States. 

" How far this structure of the Government of the United States is 
adequate and safe for its objects, time alone can absolutely determine. 
Experience seems to have shown that whatever may grow out of future 
stages of our national career, there is, as yet, a suflicient control, in the 
popular will, over the Executive and Legislative Departments of the 
government. When the Alien and Sedition Laws were passed in 
contravention to the opinions and feelings of the community, the first 
elections that ensued put an end to them. And whatever may have been 
the character of other acts, in the judgment of many of us, it is but 
true, that they have generally accorded with the views of a majority of 
the states and of the people. At the present day it seems well under- 
stood that the laws which have created the most dissatisfaction, have 
had a like sanction without doors ; and that whether continued, varied, 
or repealed, a like proof will be given of the sympathy and responsibility 
of the representative body to the constituent body. Indeed, the great 



MADISON. 173 

complaint now is against the results of this sympathy and responsibility 
in the legislative policy of the nation. 

" With respect to the judicial power of the United States, and the 
authority of the Supreme Court in relation to the boundary of jurisdiction 
between the Federal and State Governments, I may be permitted to 
refer to the thirty-ninth number of the ' Federalist,'* for the light in 
which the subject was regarded by its writer, at the pe/ ' --U'^.^ the 
Constitution was depending ; and it is believed that the s.. e 

prevailing view then taken of it, that the same view has cc ;o 

prevail, and that it does so at this time, notwithstanding the it 

exceptions to it. 

" But it is perfectly consistent with the concession of this power to tie 
Supreme Court, in cases falling within the 'course of its functions, to 
maintain that the power has not always been rightly exercised. To say 
nothing of the period, happily a short one, when judges in their seats 
did not abstain from intemperate and party harangues, equally at vari- 
ance with their duty and their dignity ; there have been occasional 
decisions from the bench, which have incurred serious and extensive 
disapprobation. Still it would seem that, with but few exceptions, the 
course of the Judiciary has been hitherto sustained by the predominant 
sense of the nation. 

" Those who have denied or doubted the supremacy of the judicial 
power of the United States, and denounce at the same time a nullifying 
power in a state, seem not to have sufficiently adverted to the utter 
inefficiency of a supremacy in a law of the land, without a supremacy 
in the exposition and execution of the law ; nor to the destruction of 
all equipoise between the Federal Government and the State Govern- 
ments, if, whilst the functionaries of the Federal Government are directly 
or indirectly elected by and responsible to the states, and the functiona- 
ries of the states are in tlieir appointment and responsibility wholly inde- 
pendent of the United States, no constitutional control of any sort 
belong to the United States over the states. Under such an organiza- 
tion it is evident that it would be in the power of the states, individually, 
to pass unauthorized laws, and to carry them into complete effect, any 
thing in the Constitution and Laws of the United States to the contrary 
notwithstanding. This would be a nullifying power in its plenary charac- 
ter ; and whether it had its final effect, through the Legislative, E.xecutive, 
or Judiciary organ of the state, would be equally fatal to the constituted 
relation between the two governments. 

" Should the provisions of the Constitution, as here reviewed, be found 

* No. 39. 'It is true, that in controversies relating to the boundary between the 
two jurisdictions, the tribunal which is ultimately to decide, is to be established under 
the General Government. But this dues not change the prhiciple of the case. The 
decision is to be impartially made, according to the rules of the Constitution ; and all 
the usual and most effectual precautions are taken to secure this impartiality. Some 
such tribunal is clearly essential to prevent an appeal to the sword, and a dissolution 
of the compact ; and that it ought to be established under the general, rather than 
ander the local, govermnents ; or, to speak more properly, that it could be safely 
established under the first aloue, is a position not likely to be combated.' 



174 MADISON. 

not to secure the government and rights of the states against usurpations 
and abuses on the part of the United States, the final resort within the 
purview of the Constitution, lies in an amendment of the Constitution, 
according to a process applicable by the states. 

" And in the event of a failure of every constitutional resort, and an 
accunmlation of usurpations and abuses, rendering .passive obedience 
and non-resistance a greater evil than resistance and revolution, there 
can remain but one resort, the last of all — an appeal from the cancelled 
obligations of the constitutional compact, to original rights and the law 
of self-preservation. This is the ultima ratio under all governments, 
whether consolidated, confederated, or a compound of both ; and it can- 
not be doubted, that a single member of the Union, in the extremity sup- 
posed, but in that only, woTild have a right, as an extra and ultra-constitu- 
tional right, to make the appeal. 

" This brings us to the expedient lately advanced, which claims for a 
single state a right to appeal against an exercise of power by the govern- 
ment of the United States decided by the states to be unconstitutional, 
to the parties to the constitutional compact ; the decision of the state to 
have the effect of nullifying the act of the Government of the United 
States, unless the decision of the state be reversed by three fourths of the 
parties. 

" The distinguished names and high authorities which appear to have 
asserted and given a practical scope to this doctrine, entitle it to a respect 
which it might be difficult otherwise to feel for it. 

"If the doctrine were to be understood as requiring the three fourths 
of the states to sustain, instead of that proportion to reverse, the decision 
of the appealing state, the decision to be without effect during the appeal, 
it would be sufficient to remark, that this extra-constitutional course 
might well give way to that marked out by the Constitution, which 
autliorizes two thirds of the states to institute, and three fourths to effec- 
tuate, an amendment of the Constitution, establishing a permanent rule 
of the highest authority, in place of an irregular precedent of construc- 
tion only. 

"But it is understood that the nullifying doctrine imports that the deci- 
sion of the state is to be presumed valid, and that it overrules the law of 
the United States, unless overruled by three fourths of the states. 

" Can more be necessary to demonstrate the inadmissibility of such a 
doctrine, than that it puts it in the power of the smallest fraction over 
one fourth of the United States, that is, of seven states out of twenty-four, 
to give the law and even the Constitution to seventeen states, each of the 
seventeen having, as parties to the Constitution, an equal right with each 
of the seven, to expound it, and to insist on the exposition 1 That the 
seven might, in particular instances, be right, and the seventeen wrong, 
is more than possible. But to establish a positive and permanent rule 
giving such a power, to such a minority, over such a majority, would 
overturn the first principle of free government, and in practice necessarily 
overturn the government itself 

" It is to be recollected that the Constitution was proposed to the peo- 
ple of the states as a whole, and unanimously adopted by the states as 



MADISON. 175 

a wJwIe, it being a part of the Constitution that not less than three 
fourths of the states should be competent to make any alterations in what 
had been unanimously agreed to. So great is the caution on this point, 
that in two cases where peculiar interests were at stake, a proportion 
even of three fourths is distrusted, and unanimity required to make an 
alteration. 

" When the Constitution was adopted as a whole, it is certain that 
there were many parts, which, if separately proposed, would have 
been promptly rejected. It is far from impossible that every part of a 
Constitution might be rejected by a majority, and yet, taken together as 
a whole, be unanimously accepted. Free Constitutions will rarely, if 
ever, be formed, without reciprocal concessions; without articles con- 
ditioned on and balancing each other. Is there a Constitution of a 
single state out of the twenty-four, that would bear the experiment of 
having its component parts submitted to the people and separately 
decided on? 

" What the fate of the Constitution of the United States would be, if 
a small proportion of the states could expunge parts of it particularly 
valued by a large majority, it can have but one answer. 

" The difficulty is not removed by limiting the doctrine to cases of 
construction. How many cases of that sort, involving cardinal provi- 
sions of the Constitution have occurred ? How many now exist ? 
How many may hereafter spring up ? How many might be ingeniously 
created, if entitled to the privilege of a decision in the mode proposed ? 

" It is certain that the principle of that mode would not reach further 
than is contemplated. If a single state can of right require three fourths 
of its co-states to overrule its exposition of the Constitution, because that 
proportion is authorized to amend it, would the plea be less plausible that, 
as the Constitution was unanimously established, it ought to be unani- 
mously expounded ? 

" The reply to all such suggestions seems to be unavoidable and irre- 
sistible ; that the Constitution is a compact, that its text is to be expound- 
ed according to the provisions for expounding it — making a part of the 
compact ; and that none of the parties can rightfully renounce the ex- 
pounding provision more than any other part. When such a right ac- 
crues, as may accrue, it must grow out of abuses of the compact releasing 
the sufferers from their fealty to it. 

" In favor of the nullifying claim for the states, individually, it ap- 
pears, as you observe, that the proceedings of the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia, in '98 and '99, against the Alien and Sedition Acts, are much 
dwelt upon. 

" It may often happen, as experience proves, that erroneous construc- 
tions, not anticipated, may not be sufficiently guarded against, in the 
language used ; and it is due to the distinguished individuals, who have 
misconceived the intention of those proceedings, to suppose that the 
meaning of the Legislature, thougji well comprehended' at the time, ma.v 
not now be obvious to those unacquainted with the contemporary indica- 
ions and impressions. 

" But it is believed that by keeping in view the distinction between 



176 MADISON. * 

the governments of the states, and the states m which they were parties 
to the Constitution ; between the rights of the parties, in their concurrent 
and in their individual capacities ; between the several modes and objects 
of interposition against the abuses of power, and especially between in- 
terpositions within the purview of the Constitution, and interpositions 
appealing from the Constitution to the rights of niiture paramount to all 
constitutions ; with an attention, always of explanatory use, to the views 
and arguments which were combated, the Resolutions of Virginia, as 
vindicated in the Report on them, will be found entitled to an exposition, 
showing a consistency in their parts, and an inconsistency of the whole, 
with the doctrine under consideration. 

" That the Legislature could not have intended to sanction such a doc- 
trine, is to be inferred from the debates in the House of Delegates, and 
from the address of the two Houses to their constituents, on the subject 
of the Resolutions. The tenor of the debates, which were ably conduct- 
ed, and are understood to have been revised for the press by most, if not 
all, of the speakers, discloses no reference whatever to a constitutional 
right in an individual state, to arrest by force the operation of a law of 
the United States. Concert among the states for redress against the Alien 
and Sedition Laws, as acts of usurped power, was a leading sentiment ; 
and the attainment of a concert, the immediate object of the course 
adopted by the legislature, which was that of inviting the other states ' to 
concur in declaring the acts to be unconstitutional, and to co-opcratc by 
the necessary and proper measures in maintaining unimpaired the authori- 
ties, rights, and liberties reserved to the states respectively, and to the peo- 
ple.' That by the necessary and proper measures to be concurrently 
and co-opcrativcly taken, were meant measures known to the Constitution, 
particularly, the ordinary control of the people and legislatures of the 
states, over the Government of the United States, cannot be doubted ; 
and the interposition of this control, as the event showed, was equal to 
the occasion. 

" It is worthy of remark, and explanatory of the intentions of ihe 
Legislature, tliat the words ' not law, but utterly null, void, and of no 
forJe or effect,' which had followed, in one of the resolutions, the word 
' unconstitutional,' were struck out by common consent. Though the 
words were in fact but synonymous with ' unconstitutional ;' yet to 
guard against a misunderstanding of this phrase as more than declaratory 
of opinion, the word ' unconstitutional' alone was retained, as not liable 
to that danger. 

" The published Address of the Legislature to the people, their consti- 
tuents, affords another conclusive evidence of its views. The address 
warns them against the encroaching spirit of the General Government, 
argues the unconstitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts, points to 
other instances in which the constitutional limits had been overleaped ; 
dwells upon the dangerous mode of deriving power by implication ; and 
in general presses the necessity of watching over the consolidating ten- 
dency of the Federal policy. But nothing is said that can be understood 
to look to means of maintaining the rights of the states, beyond the regu- 
lar ones, within the forms of the Constitution. 



MADISON. 177 

" If any further lights on the subject could be needed, a very strong one 
is reflected in the answers to the resolutions, by the States which protested 
against them. The main objection of these, beyond a few general com- 
plaints of the inflammatory tendency of the resolutions, was directed 
against the assumed authority of a State Legislature to declare a law of the 
United States unconstitutional, which they pronounced an unwarranta- 
ble interference with the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of 
the United States. Had the resolutions been regarded as avowing and 
maintaining a right, in an individual State, to arrest, by force, the execu- 
tion of a law of the United States, it must be presumed that it would 
have been a conspicuous object of their denunciation. 

" With cordial salutations, 

"James Madison." 

During the latter part of his life, Mr. Madison was associated with Mr. 
Jefferson in the institution of the University of Virginia, and after his 
decease was placed at its head with the title of Rector. He was also the 
president of an agricultural society in the county of his residence, and in 
that capacity delivered an " address, which the practical farmer and the 
classical scliolar may read with equal profit and delight." 

" In the midst of these occupations the declining days of the philosopher, 
the statesman and the patriot were passed, until the 21st day of June, 
1836, the anniversary of the day on which the ratification of the conven- 
tion of Virginia, in 1 788, had affixed the seal of James Madison as the 
father of the Constitution of the United States, when his earthly part 
sunk without a struggle into the grave, and a spirit bright as the seraphim 
that surround the throne of Omnipotence ascended to the bosom of his 
God " 

23 



JAMES MONROE. 

The early years of the life of James Monkoe, fifth President of the 
United States, were passed at the place of his nativity, on the banks of 
the Potomac, in the county of Westmoreland, in what was, at that period, 
called the colony of Virginia. It is somewhat remarkable that this state, 
where the traveller thinks that he beholds the feudal splendor of a former 
age, and is entertained with a magnificent hospitality, to be found in no 
other part of the union, and where, in the language of the British Spy, 
" hero and there a stately aristocratic palace strikes the view, while all 
around, for many miles, no other buildings are to be seen but the little 
smoky huts and log cabins of poor, laborious, ignorant tenants," should 
have produced four of the chief magistrates of this republic, Old Vir- 
ginia, besides the crown of her glory, Washington — her Jefferson, her 
Madison, and her Monroe — enrols upon her archives the name of another 
illustrious and venerable patriarch of freedom, which is a consecrated 
word upon the lips of every lover of his country. Who would not write 
with me, on the scroll which American liberty displays to the world, 
under the name of General Washington, that of his biographer? Vene- 
rated by all men, of all parties, is the present Chief Justice, John 
Marshall. 

Jaaies Monroe was born in September, 1759. Plis ancestors had for 
many years resided in the province in which he was born, and one of 
them was among the first patentees of that province. That this ancestor 
possessed some of those noble and generous qualities of the heart which 
distinguished his descendant, will be apparent from the following anecdote. 
At some warmly contested election, when Madison and Monroe were 
opposing candidates, the friends of both parties used the most strenuous 
e.\crtious to bring every voter to the polls. When, by reasons of poverty, 
old age, or bodily infirmities, any voters were unable to be present, they 
were sent f<)r and brought in carts and wagons, to the place o' the elec- 
tion. The friends of Mr. Madison had succeeded in transpoi <; ,ng irom a 
considerable distance a very aged man. He was set down at the building 
in whicli the votes were to be cast, and soon began to hear some conver- 
sation about the candidates. The name of James Monroe at last struck his 
ear, and lie iutjuired of the speaker if the man whom he had mentioned was 
the son of that Monroe who lived and died in the province many years 
before. Upon being informed that James was a grandson of that indi- 
vidual, the old man instantly exclaimed, " Then I will vote for James 
Monroe. His grandfather befriended me when I first came into the 
country, fed me, and clothed me, and I lived in his house. 1 do not 
know James Madison. I will vote for James Monroe !" So Mr. Monroe 



MONROE. 179 

received the old man's suffrage, though Mr. Madison's supporters had 
borne the trouble and expense of a long journey. The same noble spirit 
of benevolence, which prompted the grandfather to receive within his door 
a helpless stranger, may be traced in the actions of his illustrious de- 
scendant, who pledged the whole of his property for the credit of the 
nation, and was untiring in his efforts to reward revolutionary patriots. 

Mr. Monroe was, at seventeen years of age, in the process of complet- 
ing his classical education at the College of William and Mary, when the 
colonial delegates assembled at Philadelphia, to deliberate upon the unjust 
and manifold oppressions of Great Britain, declared the separation of the 
colonies, and promulgated the declaration of Independence. Had he 
been born ten years before, it is highly probable, that, instead of reading 
about the rise and fall of the Grecian republics, he would have been one 
of tlie signers of that celebrated instrument. His youth precluded him 
from taking any part in the controversies, which had agitated the country 
from the first promulgation of the stamp act. Indeed, his birth may be 
said to have been simultaneous with the faint dawn of American freedom; 
for he was only in his fifth year, when, upon the publication of that odious 
paper, the fires of resistance flashed, like beacons, from mountain to 
mountain. The British government continued to add new fuel to the 
flame, till on tlie fourth of Jidy, 1770, the conflagration became universal. 

Upon the first formation of the American army, young Monroe — at that 
period eighteen years of age — left his college, and, repairing to General 
Wasiiington's headquarters at New- York, enrolled himself in the army as 
a cadet in the regiment cominanded by Colonel Mercer. He joined the 
army when every thing looked hopeless and gloomy. The number of 
deserters increased from day to day. The invading armies came pouring 
in ; and the tories, a numerous class, now entirely extinct among us, not 
only favored the cause of the mother country, but disheartened the new 
recruits, who were sufiiciently terrified at the prospect of contending with an 
enemy whom they had been taught to deem invincible. The besiegers con- 
tinued to receive new accessions, while the besieged were almost reduced to 
the necessity of a dissolution. To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who 
went right onward undismayed through difiiculty and danger, tiie United 
States owe their political emancipation. The young cadet joined the 
ranks, and espoused the cause of his injured country, with a firm deter- 
mination to live or die with her strife for liberty. The fortitude of such 
a determination will be appreciated by those who reflect that our country, 
like the infant Hercules, was to strangle the serpents, or perish in the 
attempt. 

Mr. Monroe shared all the defeats and privations which attended the 
footsteps of the army of Washington, througii the disastrous battles of Flat 
Bush, Haerlem Heights, and White Plains. He was present at the suc- 
ceeding evacuation of New- York and Long Island, at the surrender of 
Fort Washington, and the retreat through the Jerseys ; " till," in tlie elo- 
quent language of his great eulogist, " on the day devoted to celebrate 
the birth of the Savior of mankind, of the same year on which indepen- 
dence was proclaimed, Washington, with the houseless heads and unshod 
feet of three thousand new and undisciplined levies, stood on the western 



180 MONROE. 

bank of the Delaware, to contend in arms with the British lion, and to 
baffle the skill and energy of the chosen champions of Britain, with ten 
times the number of his shivering and emaciate host ; the stream of the 
Delaware forming the only barrier between the proud array of thirty 
thousand veteran Britons and the scanty remnant of his dissolving bands." 
Mr. Monroe, after having participated in the adversities of the gallant 
defenders of their country, now rejoiced with them in their great and 
unanticipated success. At the battle of Trenton he led the vanguard, 
and, in the act of charging upon the enemy, he received a wound in his 
left shoulder. This wound, the scar of which remained till his death, 
was inflicted in the same battle where the life-blood of many a noble 
soldier streamed. The commander of his regiment. Colonel Mercer, fell. 
Haselet, and Porter, and Neal, and Fleming, and Shippen, were also, 
upon that memorable day, martyrs to the holy cause of freedom. 

As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was promoted a captain of 
infantry ; and, having recovered from his wound, he rejoined the army. 
He, however, receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an officer 
in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, 
in the actions of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, he continued 
aid-de-camp ; but, becoming desirous to regain his position in the army, 
he exerted himself to collect a regiment for the Virginia line. This 
scheme, which was recommended by General Washington to the legisla- 
ture of Virginia, by whom Captain Monroe was commissioned to act, 
failed, owing to the exhausted condition of the state. Upon this failure, 
he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at that period Governor, and pur- 
sued, with considerable ardor, the study of the common law. He did not, 
however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag ; but, in the 
invasions of the enemy, served as a volunteer, during the two years of 
his legal pursuits. Afler the fall of Charleston, in 1780, he was appointed 
by Governor Jefferson a military commissioner, to examine into the con- 
dition of the southern army under De Kalb, as well as the situation of the 
states, and to determine, from the result of his observation, the probability 
of rescuing them from the enemy. Upon his return, the Governor and 
Executive Council were well pleased with his execution of such an 
important trust. 

The time at length arrived, when, having endured the burden and 
heat of the day as a soldier, he was to enter upon a different field of action, 
as the supporter of a system of laws, in a government which he had fought 
and bled to establish. In 1782, he was elected from King George county 
a member of the legislature of Virginia, and by that body he was elevated 
to a seat in the Executive Council. He was thus honored with the con- 
fidence of his fellow-citizens at twenty-three years of age ; and, having at 
this early period, displayed some of that ability and aptitude for legisla- 
tion, which were afterwards employed with unremitting energy for the 
public good, he was, in the succeeding year, chosen a member of the 
Congress of the United States, on the ninth of June, 1783. On the 
thirteenth of December, he took his seat in the continental Congress, 
assembled at Annapolis, and on that day saw the illustrious leader of the 
victorious revolutionary aimy resign his commission into the hands of 



MONROE. 181 

those bold patriots by whom it had been conferred. From this year, 1783, 
to 1786, INIr. Monroe was a useful member of the confederate Congress. 
During this period, he had frequent opportunities of observing the utter 
inefficiency of the articles of confederation ; and introduced a series of 
resolutions, to give Congress the power of regulating trade, and of laying 
an impost duty of five per cent. He was chairman of the committee who 
reported on these resolutions ; and in this report, certain alterations in the 
existing form of government were so strongly urged, that it was soon de- 
bated whether there should not be some formal revision. The result was 
the partial convention of delegates at Annapolis, and finally the celebrated 
Federal Convention, and the formation and adoption of that Constitution, 
under which the country has so long enjoyed prosperity and happiness. Mr. 
Monroe also proposed a plan for the just disposition of the public lands. 

In 1784, there arose a controversy between the states of Massachu- 
setts and New- York, upon some question of boundary and jurisdiction. 
It v.'as one of the few powers of the confederated Congress, to constitute 
a Court of Commissioners to determine all such disputes, to be chosen, 
however, by the parties to the controversy. The agents of the two states, 
in December, agreed upon nine persons, among whom was James Monroe. 
This choice of so young a man indicates the high esteem in which he was 
generally held. In March, 18"25, he signified to Congress his acceptance 
of the appointment. But in a year from that time, owing to the resigna- 
tion of some of the members of the court, the necessity of appointing 
others, and the difficulties and delays in hearing from all the Judges, the 
controversy was not yet decided. On the fifteenth of May, Mr. Monroe 
declined his appointment, stating, in his letter to Congress, " some cir- 
cumstances will put out of my power to act as a Judge for the decision of 
the controversy between Massachusetts and New- York, and therefore I 
present my resignation to Congress." What these circumstances were, 
may be easily conjectured from what had transpired since the election of 
the Judges. Spain had always pursued towards the United States a 
system of mean and narrow policy, in regard to the navigation of the 
waters of the Mississippi. She finally sent a sort of diplomatic agent to 
negotiate with our government, who had received instruction absolutely 
to resist our right to sail through the mouth of that important river. The 
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jay, was told by Congress, to confer 
with the Spanish Encargardo, but to enter injo no negotiation until its 
terms should first be approved by Congress. The Secretary, not being 
able to effect any arrangement, recommended, in a personal address, 
some compromis';' with Spain, by proposing a treaty, in which, if she 
would give comn.ercial advantages equivalent to our yielding the right to 
navigate the Mississippi, we should forbear to exercise that right for 
twenty or thirty years, to which the duration of the treaty should be 
limited. Many and angry were the debates upon this proposition. The 
seven northern states were warmly in favor of it, and the five southern 
states (Delaware not being represented) as warmly opposed. 

It is to be feared that, witli this useless discussion, commenced those 
sectional prejudices and animosities, which have, from time to time, pro- 
duced harsh discord in the national harmony, and may, by and by, shatter 



182 MONROE. 

the order and stability of the union. Could these good and great men, 
who were heated beyond discretion, in that controversy, have but foreseen, 
for a moment, that they were casting on the winds the seeds of future 
contention, every tongue, in its tide of hasty utterance, would have been 
hushed, and every right arm, lifted in vehement gesticulation, would have 
fallen nerveless. Perhaps there never lived purer patriots than R,ufus 
King and James Monroe ; yet they were both, as leaders of opposing 
parties, greatly distinguished in this debate. The latter, with much 
clearness and strength, at a subsequent period in the Virginia Convention, 
which met to deliberate on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 
explained and defended the course he had taken ; stating, in conclusion, 
" I thought it my duty to use every effort in Congress for the interest of 
the southern states. But so far as depended on me, with my official 
character it ceased. With many of those gentlemen, to whom I always 
considered it as my particular misfortune to be opposed, I am now in 
habits of correspondence and friendship ; and I am concerned for the 
necessity which has given birth to this relation." 

After the quarrel about the treaty, which, not being sanctioned by 
nine states, was not arranged, he was conscious that, by his opposition to 
their measures, he had lost the confidence of the states by whom he had 
been chosen a Judge, and, influenced by the most honorable motives, he 
resigned his commission. 

As, by the articles of confederation, no delegate could serve more than 
three years in six, Mr. Monroe left Congress in the fall of 1786, on the 
expiration of his term. While Congress was in session at New- York, he 
had formed a matrimonial connexion with Miss Kortwright, of that city. 
This lady had, in London and Paris, been celebrated for her beauty and 
her powers of conversation. Her external accomplishments did not sur- 
pass those of her mind ; and to the elegance of her manners were added 
all those endearing qualities of the heart, which cheer the gloom of 
existence. 

In 1787, Mr. Monroe, with the intention of pursuing the practice of 
the law, established himself in Fredericksburg ; but he was soon elected 
to the legislature of the state. In the following year he was chosen a 
member of that Virginia Convention, which met to decide upon the 
Federal Constitution, and in which there was an array of such power 
and talent, as we may never see again in one body of men. Among 
other names which reflect honor on the land of their birth, are those of 
Grayson, Henry, Mason, Lee, Madison, Marshall, and Randolph. James 
Monroe was of that number who opposed the adoptio of the Federal 
Constitution, in the form in which it had been submitted to the Conven- 
tion. His opposition was not greater than that of a large majority of the 
whole people of the country, nor of many other illustrious statesmen who 
enjoyed the highest public confidence. He presented certain amend- 
ments, and, in his first speech to the Convention, very clearly displayed 
the reasons of his opposition. To those who, at the present day, enjoy the 
blessings conferred by the constitution, it will appear strange that it was 
opposed by such men as James Monroe, George Mason, and Patrick 
Henry ; that it was finally adopted, with reluctance, by those who con- 



MONROE. 183 

sidered it the only alternative to a dissolution of the union ; and that its 
most warm and determined supporters never, even in imagination, antici- 
pated, or in hope conceived, the " extent of the contrast in the condition 
of the North American people, under that new social compact, with what 
it had been under the Confederation which it was to supersede." The 
same writer, from whom we have just quoted, happily calls the final 
adoption and establishment of the present constitution " the greatest 
triumph of pure and peaceful intellect recorded in the annals of the human 
race." 

The course pursued by Mr. Monroe, in the Convention, did not shake 
the high esteem in which he was held by the citizens of his native state ; 
for, upon the death of the Honorable William Grayson, in December, 1789, 
he was chosen to supply the vacancy thereby occasioned in the Senate of the 
United States. He continued in the Senate till May, 1794, a period of 
nearly five years, during which the two great political parties became 
more distinctly marked. He belonged to that which favored the objects 
of the French revolution ; and when the President issued his proclama- 
tion of neutrality, he was among its most violent opposers. This measure, 
which the event proved to have been dictated by the soundest policy, 
created a violent fermentation, and the governlnent was accused of in- 
gratitude to France. 

Mr. Gouverneur Morris, who had been Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
new republic, was in favor of observing the strictest neutrality. He was 
recalled, at the request of the French government, and in May, 1794, 
Mr. Monroe was appointed his successor. This judicious appointment 
of a strong anti-federalist was made to allay the jealousies which then 
existed. He went to France, instructed by the government to express, 
in the warmest terms, the friendship of the United States. He was 
received, as one who strongly favored the revolution, with splendid cere- 
mony, by the National Convention ; and he there declared the strong 
attachment of his country to the cause of France. Differing, as he did, 
from the Executive, in his views concerning the policy of the American 
administration, and believing that the French government justly com- 
plained of that policy, it must have been an arduous duty for him to have 
obeyed, with strictness, the instructions from home on his ministerial 
conduct. At the close of Washington's administration he was recalled, 
and his place supplied by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Esq. 

Mr. Monroe, upon his return to the United States, published a work in 
explanation of his own opinions and proceedings, entitled, " A View of 
the Conduct of the Executive in the Foreign Affairs of the United States, 
connected witlj the Mission to the French Republic, during the years 
1794, 5, and 6." This book, which he " illustrated by his instructions 
and correspondence, and other authentic documents," is an octavo 
volume of four hundred and seven pjvges ; but though it lies before us, 
it will be impossible, in our circumscribed limits, to notice, even cur- 
sorily, the strength of its positions, or the power of its arguments. The 
circumstances, which elicited the work, are now regarded by all parties 
in the same light ; and no one pretends to doubt the enlightened policy 
of Washington towards the B^rench Republic. Many honest and honora- 



184 MONROE. 

ble men were, however, at that time, of a different opinion, and among 
them was the subject of this memoir. At a subsequent period, with the 
true nobility of a mind, which disdains to cherish preconceived opinions 
in opposition to the convictions of better judgment, and for the sake of a 
false consistency, he cast off all remembrance of past animosity and 
unkind feeling, and harmonized with his countrymen in their entire and 
perfect v'cneration for the character of Washington. 

The mission of Mr. Monroe in France was contemporaneous with that 
of Mr. Jay in Great Britain. The latter, in obedience to his instructions, 
concluded with Lord Grenville a treaty, by which, this government was 
firmly bound to observe towards Great Britain the strict neutrality which 
had already been proclaimed. Upon the publication of this treaty, it 
became the chief subject of contention, and created the most bitter ani- 
mosity between the two parties, of each of which Mr. Monroe and Mr. 
Jay may be said to have maintained the different political opinions. 

There were no two individuals more resolutely and unremittingly op- 
posed to each other ; and yet, in the same generous spirit which we have 
just commended, James Monroe, with the causes of their contention, 
forgot the angry feelings which they had occasioned, and left " recorded, 
with his own hand, a warm and unqualified testimonial to the pure pat- 
riotism, the preeminent ability, and the spotless integrity of John Jay." 

The treaty, which had been concluded by Mr. Jay, proved afterwards 
extremely beneficial to this country ; though it excited much hostile feel- 
ing towards us in France. That Mr. Monroe's opposition to this and 
other measures of the existing government did not impair the confidence 
of his fellow-citizens, is made manifest by his election, on his return, to 
the legislature of his native state, and, shortly afterwards, to the office of 
Governor of Virginia, in which he served for three years, the period limit- 
ed by the constitution. 

While Mr. Monroe was thus employed in the honorable discharge of 
the executive duties in his native state, his attention, as well as that of 
every votary of freedom, was forcibly turned to the wonderful events 
which transpired in the countries of the old world. A soldier's sword 
had severed the knot of the old dynasties of the European states ; the 
hand that wielded it, had pointed to the cloud-capped summits of the Alps, 
and they had melted away and parted, like the Red Sea, beneath the 
patriarch's wand, leaving a passage through their stupendous barriers for 
the armies of the republic ; the same hand had torn the imperial crown 
from the brows of the Roman Pontiff, and the same sword had been laid, 
after having again waved those armies homeward, over the same snow- 
crowned ramparts, at the feet of the French Directory. But it had been 
laid there in mockery, soon to be resumed, to flash in angry splendor 
before the gaze of the astonished world. Wherever that hand had waved 
that sword, the sceptres of kings had fallen from their iron grasp, and the 
plumes and the banners of unconquered legions had been trailed in the 
dust. The rulers, who had imparted such strength to that hand, and 
who had rejoiced to see the scathing and desolation which followed that 
sword, little dreamed that it would soon be seen in the very capitol of 
their republic ; and, in a short time, be cast aside to give place to the 



MONROE. 185 

rod and to the sceptre. The world had beheld a soldier, distinguished 
for skill and prowess in arms ; a successful general, crowned with the 
laurels of fifty battles ; a First Consul, a Dictator, and at last an Emperor 
and a King, in one man, whose name was Napoleon Buonaparte. And 
how had the nations of Europe borne the blaze of this splendid luminary ? 
In the glowing eloquence of Fisher Ames, " they seemed to have been 
destined like comets to a contact with the sun ; not to thrust him from his 
orb, but to supply his waste of elemental fire." 

Americans, till now, had witnessed the progress of this wonderful 
meteor from afar ; but what must have been the terror and anxiety, in 
learning that, through the miserable imbecility of Spain, it was to be 
brought fearfully near to their own country. 

In the year 1800, Spain, in the treaty of St. Ildefonso, had secretly 
ceded Louisiana to France ; but, though in reality concluded in that 
year, it was not promulgated till 1802. The greatest consternation 
followed the bold disclosure of this treaty ; and nothing less than a war 
with France was anticipated. The plan to take possession of this ceded 
territory was as magnificent as the other projects of its devisor ; for, 
doubtless, with the intention of recovering all their old dominions, from 
New Orleans to Canada, twenty thousand veterans were banded and 
ready to set sail for Louisiana, when the current of events suddenly 
took a new direction, and caused Buonaparte to relinquish his premedi- 
tated crusade against the United States. 

On the eleventh of January, 1803, Mr. Monroe was appointed Envoy 
Extraordinary, and joined with that eminent patriot, Robert R. Living- 
ston, then Resident Minister Plenipotentiary, from the United States, in 
France, in the Commission Extraordinary, to negotiate a purchase of 
the island of New Orleans, and the Spanish territory east of the Missis- 
sippi. He was also appointed, jointly, with Charles Pinckney, then 
Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid, to an Extraor- 
dinary Mission, to negotiate, if necessary, the same purchase with Spain, 
who still held possession of Louisiana. 

Several months before Mr. Monroe's arrival in Paris, Mr. Livingston 
had presented to the French government, " a very able memorial, shew- 
ing, by conclusive arguments, that the cession of the province to the 
United States would be a measure of wise and sound policy; conducive 
not less to the true interests of France, than to those of the Federal 
Union." It did not, however, suit the stupendous views of the Emperor, 
to listen at that time to any such proposition : but Mr. Monroe had hardly 
arrived, before his Imperial Majesty discovered that the large sum of 
money, which he might obtain for the province, would be extremely con- 
venient in the war which he had just excited between France and Great 
Britain. The sum which he proposed was lather astounding, but the 
American Ministers, although it surpassed their powers, and their availa- 
ble funds, hesitated not to promise to pay the French government fifteen, 
millions of dollars, for the territory of Louisiana. The immense benefits 
resulting to the Union, from the annexation of this extensive and beau 
tiful territory, cannot be duly appreciated, unless we contrast the real with 
the probable condition of the Federal Union, had such an annexatioD 
24 



186 MONROE. 

never been made If the French had been allowed to take peaceful 
possession of the banks of the Mississippi, and to become masters of the 
outlets of the Gulf of Mexico, we should soon have lost all the blessings 
of om- neutrality. With the En^ish, who are in possession of the 
northern lakes, and of the St. Lawrence, they would have waged harass- 
ing and perpetual warfare. We should have been enclosed on all sides, 
except that of the Atlantic Ocean, (and perhaps even there by the oppos- 
ing navies,) by two of the most powerful nations of Europe, deadly 
hostile to each other. With one or the other we must have been allied : 
our national existence would have been constantly endangered ; and, con- 
fined within our original limits, we should have seen the rich valleys of the 
west desolated by that enmity, which had destroyed towns and villages in 
Europe ; instead of beholding, as we now behold, our empire extended 
over the Rocky Mountains, and stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean, perpetuated and blest under the glorious advantages of peace and 
civilization. 

After this most important treaty had been ratified, and an adjustment 
of certain claims of American citizens upon France had been made, in 
a convention, which was held at Paris, in April, 1803, Mr. Monroe, in 
the same month, proceeded to England, where he was appointed Minister 
Plenipotentiary, to succeed Rufus King; who, after having laithfully 
discharged his mission for seven years, was, at his own request, returning 
to his own country. With the revival of the war with France, England 
•jegan anew to exercise those odious impressments and unprovoked out- 
rages upon the persons and vessels of neutral powers, which, prior to the 
treaty concluded by Mr. Jay, had brought us to the verge of war : but 
which had not been exercised since that time. It seems to us that the 
measures proposed by President Jefferson to obtain from the British 
government a convention for the protection of our seamen, and for the 
observance of neutral rights, were both feeble and impolitic. Our Minis- 
ter should not have been instructed to solicit what lie had the right most 
imperiously to demand, viz. a total cessation of the rapine and plunder, 
committed on our ships, and a full remuneration for the wrongs which 
had already been inflicted. If such a peaceful remedy had been extended 
to the British Minister in one hand, with a declaration of war in the 
other, it is highly probable that, harassed as he was with the new French 
war, the former would have been accepted. The convention having fiiiled, 
in which the British government abandoned the right to impress seamen, 
by a captious exception for the narrow seas, made by the head of the 
admiralty, Mr. Monroe, in the same conciliatory spirit with Mr. King, 
was endeavoring to adjust these difficulties, when he was summoned to 
discharge his extraordinary mission to Spain. 

When Buonaparte ceded Louisiana to this country, he took care to 
use, in his grant to us, the very words in which it had been conveyed to 
him by Spain. He was not particular to have the exact boundaries spe- 
cified by Spain ; but intended to set his own landmarks wherever he 
pleased. But, when Louisiana passed from his possession, he very con- 
veniently forgot that he intended to comprehend all the country, from the 
Perdido east, to the Rio Bravo west, of the Mississippi ; but discovered 



MONROE. 18 

that West Florida formed no part of the ceded territory ; that the district 
of Mobile was not to be included ; and agreed with Spain in reducing 
the province of Louisiana to little more than the island of New Orleans. 

For the purpose of settling this disputed question of boundary, and to 
purchase the remnant of Spain's title to the territory of Florida, Mr. 
Monroe was called upon to join Mr. Charles Pinckney at Madrid. On 
his way thither he remained at Paris a short time to remind the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, of a promise, which had been made at 
the time of the cession of Louisiana, that France would exert her influ- 
ence with Spain in a negotiation for the acquisition of Florida by the 
United States. The answer from that ever-changing Minister was not 
satisfactory : and after having seen the self-anointed Emperor place 
with his own hands upon his own brows the imperial diadem of France, 
in the presence of the venerable Roman Pontiff, and surrounded by the 
congregated magnificence of the European courts, Mr. Monroe proceeded 
to Madrid. Here he remained, with his colleague, Mr. Pinckney, for the 
space of five months, and made constant and vigorous, but unavailing 
efforts, to establish the claims of his country. The state papers, which 
passed at this stage of our controversy with Spain, and which, after 
having for many years been buried in the archives of government, were 
at last published at Washington, are ranked by a writer, who is emi- 
nently qualified to judge, in the highest order; and concerning them he 
remarks that " they deserve the close and scrutinizing attention of every 
American statesman, and will remain solid, however unornamented, 
monuments of intellectual power, applied to national claims of right, in 
the land of our fathers and the age which has now passed away." 

In the mean while, affairs in Great Britain had assumed such a menac 
ing aspect towards this country, that Mr. Monroe, on his return thither, 
in June, 1805, )iad to contend with great difficulties. Mr. Pitt was at 
the head of the British government ; and pursued the interested and 
base policy of destroying the commerce of neutrals with France and 
Spain, to compel its enemies to trafhc with the subjects of Great Britain. 
To effect this, tlie British cruisers seized many of our vessels, and pro- 
cured their condemnation in the courts of .admiralty. There seems to 
be no excuse for this gross violation of the law of nations. During the 
space of two years, the commerce and navigation of this country had 
been unmolested, and, upon the rekindling of war in Europe, were still 
pursuing their course of success, never suspecting that their right to 
trade with neutral ports would be disputed, when suddenly our enterpris- 
ing mariners were astonished at the seizure and confiscation of their 
ships and cargoes by the British. Mr. Monroe, upon being informed of 
these acts of injustice, remonstrated with the Earl of Mulgrave, then 
Minister for Foreign Affairs, but received only an equivocal answer. The 
death of Mr. Pitt, which happened at this time, brought in a new minis- 
try, at the head of which was Charles James Fox. This liberal and 
high-minilod, but prejudiced man, instantly countermanded the order for 
the capture of neutral vessels, and released those which had already been 
captured, but could not make any compensation to the owners of those 
vessels which had been detained and condemned by Sir William 



188 MONROE. 

Scott.* Wlien these facts became known in this conntry, the excite- 
ment was ahnoj^t terrific. War ! War ! War ! was the cry. Petition 
upon petition, complaint upon comphiint, remonstrance after remon- 
strance, were presented to Congress by phuuiered merchants and ruined 
ship-owners. To still the dark and angry waters of commotion, and to 
obtain some redress for such flagrant injuries, Mr. William Pinckney, the 
most eloquent orator in the United States, was sent as Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary and Extraordinary to join Mr. Monroe in London. On Mr. 
Pinckney's arrival, negotiations were immediately commenced, and a 
treaty was made, by which, with proper modifications on our part, peace 
and harmony might have been restored ; but upon its transmission to 
President Jetlerson, he reviewed and returned it with the design that 
some securer provisions might be added with regard to the impressment 
of seamen. But the British Ministry had undergone another change. 
George Canning had succeeded to Fox as Prime Minister, and, with his 
daring and unyielding temper, ret'iised to negotiate further on the ratifi- 
cation of tlie treaty; the mission tlierefore of Monroe and Pickney was at 
an eiul. The tbrmer, had some time previous 6btained permission to return 
home. At\er having suffered some short detention in consequence of the 
unparalleled outrage of Admiral Berkley on the Chesapeake, he returned 
at the close of the year ISOT. 

From this period Mr. Monroe never went abroad ; but was employed 
till the expiration of his Presidential term, in otlices of the highest im- 
portance and trust in his own country. 

In the cursory view which we have taken of the incidents of his event- 
ful life, we have thus far beheld him, first appear upon the stage of public 
action, as a private soldier, fighting the battles of freedom and wounded 
in her cause ; following the glorious leader of the revolutionary armies 
through disheartening misfortunes and elevating success, and, afler con- 
tiuiiing tor a time to serve in the staff of a valiant general, still volun- 
teering to repel the invaders of his native land. We have next belield 
him, while resolutely pursuing the study of the laws, under the direction 
of the illustrious Jefferson, appointed a military conuuissioner to the south- 
ern army ; then upon his return home elected to the legislature of 
Virginia, and to the Congress of the United States ; then a member of 
that celebrated convention of his native state, which met to deliberate 
upon the Federal Constitution : and then chosen a Senator of the United 
States. We have next beheld the commencement of his diplomatic 
career as Minister Plenipotentiary to France under the administration 
of President Washington. By his conscientious and sincere, though 
impolitic and unadvised, conduct in the discharge of the duties of 
tJiis mission, having given such displeasure to the general government as 
10 produce his recall, we have seen him, once more in his native state, 
elected to the legislature, and then to the exalted office of Governor of 

* In what treatise of inteniutioiial law. Sir W. Scott found precedents tor his cqitita- 
blf adjudications, it remains tor the curious to investigate ; but tlie British government 
has been wonderfully successful, with the stubborn exception of Lord CoUe and siuue 
Others, iu pouring light iuto the uiiuds of its learned and incorruptible juilges. 



MONROE. 189 

Virginia, in the full enjoyment of the unimpaired confidence and high 
respect of his fellow-citizens. After the expiration of his constitutional 
term as governor, we have witnessed, in 1803, his appointment by Mr. 
Jetlorson, as Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary, both to France 
and Spain, and shortly atltorwards to Great Britain : and, during his four 
years' residence in these countries, his employment in the most interest- 
ing and important diplomatic negotiations, in which the United States 
had been engaged since the revolution. 

Wo are now to regard him again receiving the highest honors of Vir- 
ginia, and about to enter upon a loftier and broader field of action. We 
have mentioned his return home in 1807. For a few months, he was 
permitted to rest from his labor, and to enjoy that quiet happiness, which 
always blooms under the shade of private, domestic tranquillity. He 
was now forty-eight years of age, — that period when the intellect has 
arrived at its noblest strength and perfect stature, and when, aided by 
wisdom and long experience, it becomes able to exert its powers, witli 
the greatest effect, to enter upon magnificent enterprises, and to overthrow, 
as with the arm of a giant, the obstacles which may arise in its path. 
With a consciousness of having faithfidly performed tlie tasks which had 
been allotted to him, and surrounded by all those home-blessings, which 
give a value to existence — an affectionate wife and beloved children — 
Mr. Monroe was enjoying that otiiiiu ciiiii dignitafr, which is so delight- 
ful to a great mind after great exertions, when he was once more sum- 
moned to appear in the legislative chambers of his own Virginia ; and 
was again re-elected to the executive chair. Mr. Monroe acted as go- 
vernor one more term, and in the spring of 1811, he was appointed by 
President Madison, Secretary of State. But, before entering upon the 
consideration of his faithlul performance of the duties of the high offices, 
to which he was successively elevated, let us pause to consider the condi- 
tion of these United States at this eventful period. 

The war, which soon broke out between Great Britain and this conn 
try, was resting, like a dark cloud, over the brightest prospects of the 
laud. British depredations upon American commerce had been continued 
to such an extent, and our demands for reparation and restitution had 
been so unheeded, that to have tamely submitted in silence would have 
been the height of pusillanimity. There were many different opinions, 
however, about the expediency of declaring war ; and many distracting 
dissensions took place, which have not been healed even at this distance 
of time. The voice of one part of the country was heard shouting, in 
angry accents, for war, instant and desolating war — while the thoughts of 
another part were turned on the consideration of some method of proce- 
dure, by which we could still enjoy tlie blessings of peace. It was indeed 
an awful and an important crisis. The Federal Constitution, though nearly 
established in the affections of tlie people, by its excellent adaptation to the 
state of their country, and to the perpetuity of the union, had never be- 
fore been subjected to the ordeal of a formidable foreign war. It was 
now to undergo this test : and great indeed nmst have been the weight 
of the responsibility, which was thrown upon those, who were intrusted 
with the protection of this sacred charter of American rights, and who 



190 MONROE. 

were to conduct the vessel of state, in safety, through the many rocks 
and quicksands by which she was surrounded. Yet, with the star banner 
of liberty nailed to her mast, and by the guidance of the sacred charter 
of the constitution, that noble ship was at last skilfully and manfully 
rescued from her threatening dangers, and even rode proudly on the top 
of the wave, with every rag of her canvas given to the gale. Mr. 
Monroe came on board just before the vessel plunged into the midst of 
her perils. As he had been among the first of those gallant men, who 
joined the army of the revolution, when disasters and difficulties frowned 
on every side ; so was he called to the councils of government when they 
were harassed and distracted by the impending necessity of a second war, 
which it was in vain to attempt to avoid, and which, though not so hope- 
less as that of the revolution, wanted the spirit and unanimity which 
inspired our first great contest, for its prosecution and support. 

Appointed Secretary of State by President Madison, in the spring of 
1811, Mr. Monroe discharged the high duties of that important station in 
the cabinet with zeal and fidelity. In the ensuing year, on the nineteenth 
of June, war was publicly proclaimed against Great Britain. A kw days 
previous, the President laid before Congress the correspondence which 
had been carried on between Mr. Monroe, as Secretary of State, and the 
Ministry of Great Britain. These letters plainly demonstrated the im- 
possibility of effecting an adjustment concerning the two principal points 
of contention — the orders in council, and the subject of impressment. 
We have already alluded to the differing opinions which prevailed in the 
country concerning the war. On the issuing of the proclamation of the 
nineteenth of June, it was received with any thing but demonstrations of 
joy in the New England States. Indeed, the opposition of this section 
of the union was strenuously persevered in, till the perpetration of shame- 
ful outrages by the British troops, and more particularly the disgraceful 
capture of Washington, kindled the blaze of vindictive resentment in 
every bosom, and created a unanimity of sentiment in favor of active 
hostilities, which caused the war to be prosecuted with vigor, and finally 
terminated with success. As this subject has been fully treated in our 
life of President Madison, and as the events of this war, previous to the 
sacking of Washington, were not directly connected with Mr. Monroe's 
part in the administration, we shall make no further mention of them. 

After this melancholy event, which at first exasperated the feelings of 
the people against the government, and afterwards so drew down the 
whole weight of popular indignation on the Secretary of War, as to cause 
his voluntary resignation, the history of Mr. Monroe, until the end of the 
war, becomes intimately involved with its important circumstances. At 
the request of Mr. Madison, without resigning his office as Secretary of 
State, he discharged all the duties of the War Department ; and with such 
effectual vigilance and judicious foresight, as to give general satisfaction, 
and produce the most fortunate results. Indeed, a great politician has 
hazarded the conjecture, that had his appointment to the Department of 
War preceded, by six months, its actual date, the heaviest disaster of the 
war — heaviest, because its remembrance must be coupled with a blush 
of shame — would have been spared, as a blotted page, in the annals of our 
union. 



MONROE. 191 

'' This disaster, to wit, the conflagration of Washington, was heralded 
by a letter from the British Admiral Cochrane to the Secretary of State, 
dated the day previous to debarkation, though not delivered until subse- 
quent to the literal fulfilment of his barbarous commands ; stating, that, 
"having been called upon by the Governor-General of the Canadas, to aid 
him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against the inhabitants 
of the United States, for the wanton destruction committed by the army 
in Upper Canada, it became imperiously his duty, conformably with the 
notice of the Governor-General's application, to issue to the naval force 
under his command, an order to destroy and lay waste such towns and 
districts upon the coast, as might be found assailable." 

To these accusations, so grossly false, the Secretary of State could only 
reply, in the simple language of truth, that " in no instance had the 
United States authorized a deviation from the known usages of war : that, 
in the few cases in which there had been even a charge against them, the 
government had formally disavowed the acts of its officers, at the same 
time subjecting the conduct of such officers to punishment or reproba- 
tion : that amongst those few, the charge of burning the parliament-house 
in Upper Canada was now, for the first time, brought forward : until now, 
such an accusation had not been made against the Americans ; on the 
contrary, one of the most respectable civil functionaries, at that place, 
had addressed a letter of thanks to General Dearborn, for the good 
conduct of his troops; and, moreover, that when Sir George Prevost, six 
months afterwards, proceeded to measures of retaliation, the affair of the 
brick house was not mentioned.' 

But though Admiral Cochrane succeeded in overcoming the feeble 
force with which the capital of the country was ineffectually guarded, and 
in spreading desolation among splendid mansions, both public and private, 
to revenge the enormous crime of which the American army had been 
guilty in burning a brick house, hired for the temporary occupation of 
the provincial legislature, the measures of retaliation adopted by the 
British were not so successful upon other places which they invaded. 
The plan of operations necessary fojr defence, pursued by the Department 
of War, was far more vigorous and effective ; and the invading armies, 
both on the water and on the land, met with such a determined resist- 
ance and total defeat at Baltimore, as to cool their retaliatory vengeance, 
and to spread a glow of joy over the whole country. The victory at 
Plattsburgh soon followed, to reanimate and excite to nobler exertion the 
spirit of every American citizen. 

The duties which Mr. Monroe had to perform, at this time, were 
extremely difficult and arduous. Being appointed Secretary of War, 
towards the close of the campaign of ]814, his first care was to marii out 
a general plan of military operations for the ensuing year. Louisiana 
was threatened with a formidable invasion. The war in which Great 
Britain had been engaged with the conqueror of Europe had been crowned 
with the most brilliant success. During the commencement of our war, 
the strength of her armies was concentrated against Napoleon ; but at this 
period " her numerous victorious veteran legions, flushed with the glory, 
and stung with the ambition, of long-contested, hard-earned success, were 



192 MONROE. 

turned back upon her hands, without occupation for their enterprise, 
eager for new fields of battle, and new rewards of achievement." From 
these veterans ten thousand were sejected, and having been placed under 
the command of an approved and brave officer, whose subsequent untimely 
fate all parties lamented, they were sent to attack New Orleans, and to 
acquire possession of the shores and waters of the Mississippi. To meet 
this emergency, and to raise the necessary funds for the defence of New 
Orleans, and for the repulsion of these dreaded invaders, became the 
task of James Monroe. From the peculiar circumstances of the times, 
this task was difficult in the extreme. 

The state of our financial concerns was deplorable. There had al- 
ways been a deficiency of funds for the vigorous prosecution of the war, 
and the national credit had been progressively degraded. When the war 
began, the rivalry of opposing interests and political prejudice had pre- 
vented the renewal of the charter of the first bank of the United States, 
and the most dismal consequences ensued. The public credit was almost 
ruined, and the currency of the country fallen into frightful disorder 
" Banks with fictitious capital," says an able financier, " swarmed 
throughout the land, and spunged the purse of the people, often for the 
use of their own money, with more than usurious extortion. The solid 
banks were unable to maintain their integrity, only by contracting their 
operations to an extent ruinous to their debtors and to themselves. A 
balance of trade, operating like universal fraud, vitiated the channels of 
intercourse between north and south ; and the treasury of the union was 
replenished only with millions of silken tatters, and unavailable funds ; 
chartered corporations, bankrupt, under the gentle name of suspended 
specie payments, and without a dollar of capital to pay their debts, sold, 
at enormous discounts, the very evidence of those debts ; and passed off 
upon the government of the country, at par, their rags, purchasable, i" 
open market, at depreciations of thirty and forty per cent." 

At this period when, from the low state of the national credit, and fror 
the exhausted condition of the treasury, it was impossible to raise fund 
to meet the pressing necessity of the preparations for the defence of Nev 
Orleans, then it was that the subject of this memoir, with a noble gene- 
rosity of soul and a patriotic devotedness to the cause of his country, 
which was worthy of the brightest epoch of Grecian renown, performed 
an act, which, if it stood solitary and alone, should embalm his name in 
the grateful remembrance of every votary of freedom. As subsidiary to 
the credit of the nation, he pledged his own individual credit. 

It is to be deeply regretted, as we shall soon have occasion to show, 
that the conduct of our Congress, after Mr. Monroe's retirement into 
private life, was such as to strengthen the impression, which has long and 
falsely prevailed, and which the friends of arbitrary power have endeavor- 
ed to keep alive, concerning the ingratitude of republics. In making so 
great a personal sacrifice, the Secretary probably believed that there could 
arise, in future, no hesitation in recognising his claim of remuneration ; 
but we feel convinced, upon considering other noble and disinterested 
actions of his life, that he would have performed the same generous deed, 
even if he had anticipated the pecuniary difficulties which it was, conse- 



MONROE. 193 

quently, his lot to encounter. Besides offering up his private interests on 
the shrine of his country's freedom, he did not hesitate to relinquish that 
which must have been far dearer to him, the prospects of a reasonable and 
praiseworthy ambition. 

The acts of Congress had already authorized an army which numbered 
sixty thousand men. The first proposition of Mr. Monroe was to raise 
forty thousand more, and his plan was to levy upon the whole mass of the 
people. If this had been carried into effect, there would, probably, have 
been no bounds to the resentment of the people against its projector. He 
would have lost, by one severe though necessary measure, all that de- 
served popularity, which he had been so long acquiring ; for it v/as a 
resort, seemingly opposed to the genius of our institutions, and assimi- 
lated, in the minds of the people, to the conscriptions of the French 
government. Our sturdy yeomanry would have deemed such a course an 
encroachment on their rights as freemen ; and, though many were willing 
to volunteer, few would have submitted tamely to be dragooned into 
service by the forcible arguments of a recruiting officer. Such an officer 
would, doubtless, have been authorized, as in foreign countries, to take 
the farmer from his plough, the weaver from his loom, the mechanic from 
his shop, and the clerk from his desk, as well as to intrude, unquestioned 
and unforbidden, upon the retirement of the scholar, and into the halls of 
the wealthy. Mr. Monroe was conscious of those consequences which 
would attend the prosecution of such a plan ; and he determined, in his 
own wind, to withdraw his name from the presidential canvass, as the 
friends of the opposing candidates would doubtless seize upon this event 
to make his name unpopular. To two or three individuals, in his confi- 
dence, he disclosed his feelings upon the subject, and had authorized 
them to publish his intention of declining his nomination, as chief 
magistrate of the union, when the conclusion of peace rendered the 
increase of the army unnecessary, and therefore removed the objections 
which would have influenced such a resignation. 

On the return of peace, Mr. Monroe, having relinquished his office in 
the Department of War, reassumed those of the Department of State, 
which he continued to discharge till the close of Mr. Madison's adminis- 
tration. Indeed, Mr. Monroe has been justly said to have performed the 
duties of these high stations with untiring assiduity, with universally 
acknowledged ability, and with a zeal of patriotism, which counted health, 
fortune, and life itself, nothing in the ardor of self-devotion to the cause 
of his country. Until the expiration of President Madison's term of 
office, Mr. Monroe warmly co-operated with him in those measures 
which were necessary to restore the harmony of the government and to 
extricate the affairs of the country from the confusion into which they had 
been thrown by the misfortunes of the war. 

On the 5th of March, 1SI7, Mr. Monroe was inaugurated as President 
of the United States. The President and Vice-President were escorted 
by a large cavalcade of citizens, to Congress Hall, where the Ex-Presi- 
dent, the Judges of the Supreme Court, and the Senate were assembled ; 
by whom the incumbent was attended to the portico, where he delivered a 
speech from which we have selected the most prominent and striking 
25 



194 MONROE. 

passages. After expressing his high sense of the confidence which his 
fellow citizens had shown towards him, and of the feeling of deep respon- 
sibility with which he entered upon the discharge of his arduous duties, 
he took a rapid and general view of the prosperous condition of the Re- 
public under the wise provisions of its venerated Constitution. 

" Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to cher- 
ish our Union, and to cling to the Government which supports it. For- 
tunate as we are in our political institutions, we have not been less so in 
other circumstances, on which our prosperity and happiness essentially 
depend. Situated within the temperate zone, and extending through 
many degrees of latitude along the Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the 
varieties of climate, and every production incident to thai portion of the 
globe. Penetrating, internally, to the great lakes, and beyond the sources 
of the great rivers which communicate through our whole interior, no coun- 
try was ever happier with respect to its domain. Blessed, too, with a fertile 
soil, our produce has always been very abundant, leaving, even in years 
the least favorable, a surplus for the wants of our fellow men in other 
countries. Such is our peculiar felicity, that there is not a part of our 
Union that is not particularly interested in preserving it. The great agri- 
cultural interest of the nation prospers under its protection. Local inte- 
rests are not less fostered by it. Our fellow citizens of the north, engag- 
ed in navigation, find great encouragement in being made the favored 
carriers of the vast productions of the other portions of the United States, 
while the inhabitants of these are amply recompensed, in their turn, by 
the nursery for seamen and naval force, thus formed and reared up for 
the support of our common rights. Our manufactures find a generous 
encouragement by the policy which patronizes domestic industry ; and 
the surplus of our produce, a steady and profitable market by local wants, 
in less favored parts at home. 

" Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our country, it is 
the interest of every citizen to maintain it. What are the dangers which 
menace us 1 If any exist, they ought to be ascertained and guarded 
against. 

" In explaining my sentiments on this subject, it may be asked, what 
raised us to the present happy state ? How did we accomplish the revo- 
lution ? How remedy the defects of the first instrument of our Union, by 
infusing into the national government sufficient power for national pur- 
poses, without impairing the just rights of the States, or affecting those of 
individuals ? How sustain, and pass with glory through the late war ? 
The government has been in the hands of Uie people. To the people, 
therefore, and to the faithful and able depositories of their trust, is the 
credit due. Had the people of the United States been educated in diffe- 
rent principles ; had they been less intelligent, less independent, or less 
virtuous ; can it be believed that we should have maintained the same 
steady and consistent career, or been blessed with the same success? 
While then the constituent body retains its present sound and healthful 
state, every thing will be safe. They will choose competent and faithful 
representatives for every department. It is only when people become 
ignorant and corrupt ; when they degenerate into a populace, that they 



MONROE. 195 

are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy 
attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become 
the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let us then 
look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full force. Let us, 
by all wise and constitutional measures, promote intelligence among the 
people, as the best means of preserving our liberties. 

" Dangers from abroad are no less deserving of attention. Experienc- 
ing the fortune of other nations, the United States may be again involved 
in war, and it may, in that event, be the object of the adverse party to 
overset our government, to break our union, and demolish us as a nation. 
Our distance from Europe, and the just, moderate and pacific policy of 
our government, may form some security against these dangers, but they 
ought to be anticipated and guarded against. Many of our citizens are 
engaged in commerce and navigation, and all of them are in a certain 
degree dependent on their prosperous state. Many are engaged in the 
fisheries. These interests are exposed to invasion in the war between 
other powers, and we should disregard the faithful admonition of experi- 
ence, if we did not expect it. We must support our rights or lose our 
character, and with it perhaps our liberties. A people who fail to do it, 
can scarcely be said to hold a place among independent nations. National 
honor is national property of the highest value. The sentiment in the 
mind of every citizen is national strength. It ought, therefore, to be 
cherished. 

" To secure us against these dangers, our coast and inland frontiers 
should be fortified, our army and navy regulated upon just principles as 
to the force of each, be kept in perfect order, and our militia be placed 
on the best practicable footing. To put our extensive coast in such a 
state of defence as to secure our cities and interior from invasion, will be 
attended with expense, but the work, when finished, will be permanent ; 
and it is fair to presume, that a single campaign of invasion by a naval 
force superior to our own, aided by a few thousand land troops, would 
expose us to greater expense, without taking into the estimate the loss 
of property and distress of our citizens, than would be sufficient for this 
great work. 

" Our land and naval forces should be moderate, but adequate to the 
necessary purposes. The former to garrison and preserve our fortifica- 
tions, and to meet the first invasions of a foreign foe ; and, while consti- 
tuting the elements of a greater force, to preserve the science, as well as 
all the necessary implements of war, in a state to be brought into activity 
in the event of war. The latter, retained within the limits proper in a 
state of peace, might aid in maintaining the neutrality of the United 
States with dignity in the wars of other powers, and in saving the pro- 
perty of their citizens from spoliation. In time of war, with the 
enlargement of which the great naval resources of the country render it 
susceptible, and which should be duly fostered in time of peace, it would 
contribute essentially, both as an auxiliary of defence, and as a powerful 
engine of annoyance, to diminish the calamities of war, and to bring the 
war to a speedy and honorable termination. 

" But it ought always to be held prominently in view, that the safety of 



196 MONROE. 

these states, and of every thing dear to a free people, must depend, in an 
eminent degree, on the militia. Invasions may be made, too formidable 
to be resisted by any land and naval force, which it would comport, either 
with the principles of our Government, or the circumstances of the 
United States, to maintain. In such cases, recourse must be had to the 
great body of the people, and in a manner to produce the best effect. It 
is of the highest importance, therefore, that they be so organized and 
trained, as to be prepared for any emergency. The arrangement should 
be such, as to put at the command of the Government the ardent 
patriotism and youthful vigor of the country. If formed on equal and 
just principles, it cannot be oppressive. It is the crisis which makes the 
pressure, and not the laws which provide a remedy for it. This 
arrangement should be formed too, in time of peace, to be better prepared 
for war. With such an organization of such a people, the United States 
have nothing to dread from foreign invasion. At its approach, an over- 
whelming force of gallant men might always be put in motion. 

" Other interests, of high importance, will claim attention, among 
which the improvement of our country by roads and canals, proceeding 
always with a constitutional sanction, holds a distinguished place. By 
thus facilitating the intercourse between the States, we shall add much to 
the convenience and comfort of our fellow citizens ; much to the orna- 
ment of the country ; and, what is of greater importance, we shall shorten 
distances, and by making each part more accessible to, and dependent 
on the other, we shall bind the Union more closely together. Nature 
has done so much for us, by intersecting the country with so many great 
rivers, bays, and lakes, approaching from distant points so near to each 
other, that the inducement to complete the work seems to be peculiarly 
strong. A more interesting spectacle was, perhaps, never seen, than is 
exhibited within the limits of the United States ; a territory so vast, 
and advantageously situated, containing objects so grand, so useful, so 
happily connected in all their parts. 

" Our manufactures will likewise require the systematic and fostering 
care of the government. Possessing, as we do, all the raw materials, 
the fruit of our own soil and industry, we ought not to depend, in the 
degree we have done, on supplies from other countries. While we are 
thus dependent, the sudden event of war, unsought and unexpected, can- 
not fail to plunge us into the most serious difficulties. It is important, 
too, that the capital, which nourishes our manufactures, should be 
domestic, as its influence in that case, instead of exlxausting, as it may 
do in foreign hands, would be felt advantageously on agriculture, and 
every other branch of industry. Equally important is it to provide at 
home a market for our raw materials, as, by extending the competition, 
it will enhance the price, and protect the cultivator against the casualties 
incident to foreign markets. 

" With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly relations, 
and to act with kindness and liberality in all our transactions. Equally 
proper is it to persevere in our efforts to extend to them the advantages 
of civilization. 

" The great amount of our revenue, and the flourishing state of the 



MONROE. 197 

treasury, are a full proof of the competency of the national resources, 
for any emergency, as they are of the willingness of our fellow citizens 
to bear the burdens, which the public necessities require. The vast 
amount of vacant lands, the value of Avhich daily augments, forms an 
additional resource of great extent and duration. These resources, be- 
sides accomplishing every other necessary purpose, put it completely in 
the power of the United States to discharge the national debt at an 
enriy period. Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of 
every kind ; it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most ; that taxes 
are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive." 

He then remarked on the necessity of a faithful disbursement of the 
public money, and expressed his determination to do all in his power to 
secure the utmost economy and fidelity in this important branch of the 
administration. The absence of all foreign hostilities, and the return of 
domestic harmony, formed other gratifying topics of reflection. The 
speech concludes with a few observations on the instructive and useful 
examples presented by the administrations of his illustrious predecessors, 
and with the fervent hope that the Almighty would graciously continue 
that protection to the Republic, which He had already displayed so con- 
spicuously in its favor. 

On the conclusion of his address, the oath of ofRce was administered 
to the President by the Chief Justice of the United States. A signal 
gun having been fired, salutes were given from the navy yard, the bat- 
tery. Fort Warburton, and from a corps of artillery. The day was 
delightful, and the crowd of spectators, including numerous American 
and foreign functionaries, was estimated at from six to eight thousand. 

Among the early appointments of President Monroe, was that of Mr. 
John Quincy Adams as Secretary for the department of State ; of Mr. 
William H. Crawford for the department of the Treasury; and Mr. 
Isaac Shelby,* of Kentucky, for the department of War. Mr. Calhoun was 
afterwards appointed to the War department, and Mr. B. W. Crowninshield 
to the Navy. About the first of June, the President left Washington to 
commence his tour through the States; Avhich gave occasion to so many 
speculations among newspaper politicians, and which elicited a most 
general expression of kindness, respect, and courtesy. 

The President arrived at Baltimore on Sunday, the 1st of June, 
visited the field where the British general Ross received his fatal wound, 
reviewed a brigade of militia, visited various public works, received and 
answered a congratulatory address from the Mayor and City Council, 
and on Tuesday continued his journey as far as New-Castle. His reply 
to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore was in the following 
words : 

" Fellow Citizens, — The sentiments which you have communicated, 
have afforded me very great satisfaction. They are just, as to the 
objects adverted to, and to me they are generous and kind. 

" It was impossible for me to approach Baltimore, without recollecting, 



♦ Mr. Shelby did not accept the apointment. 



19B MONROE. 

with deep interest, the gallant conduct of her citizens, in the late war, 
and the lui])j)y results attending their exertions. Tlie glorious victory 
which was achieved by her, and in which her citizens bore so distin- 
guished a part, at a very important epoch, not only protected this patri- 
otic city, but shed a great lustre on the American name. 

" Experience has shown our dangers, and admonished us as to the 
means of averting them. Congress has appropriated large sums of 
money, for the fortification of our coast, and inland frontier, and for the 
establishment of naval dock-yards, and building a navy. It is proper 
that those works should be executed with judgment, fidelity, and 
economy. Much depends, in the execution, on the Executive, to whom 
extensive power is given, as to the general arrangement ; and to whom 
the superintendence usually belongs. You do me justice in believing, 
that it is to enable me to discharge these duties, with the best advantage 
to my country, that I have undertaken this tour. 

" From the increased harmony of public opinion, founded on the 
successful career of a government, which has never been equalled, and 
Avhich promises, by a further developement of its faculties, to augment, 
in an eminent degree, the blessings of this favored people, I unite with 
you in all the anticipations which you have so justly suggested. 

" In performing services, honestly and zealously intended for the 
benefit of my fellow citizens, I shall never entertain a doubt of their 
generous and firm support. Incapable of any feelings distinct from 
those of a citizen, I can assume no style, in regard to them, different 
from that character ; and it is a source of peculiar delight to me, to 
know that, while the Chief Magistrate of the United States acts fully 
up to this principle, he will require no other guard than what may be 
derived from their confidence and aflbction."* 

On Wednesday the President proceeded up the Delaware, and arrived 
at the navy-yard in Philadelptiia between three and four o'clock on 
Thursday, in the barge of the Franklin seventy-four, in which Commo- 
dore Murray and Captain Stuart had gone down to Wilmington to 
receive him. Every respectful attention was paid to him in this city. 

* In the previous address of the Mayor was a passage which afforded the editor 
of the New- York Post an opportunity for the follomng pleasant sally. 

"Among othrr topics," says the Post, "of which this famous speech was composed, 
the following pompons and important passage presents itself: 

" ' That a city which bore so conspicuous a part in the national defence should 
lirst be honored with the presence of the Chief Magistrate of the Union, is as 
llattering as it is nntural? 

" We cannot but iiccedc to the truth of the observation, that it was natural that 
the rrcsiiicnt in his journey to the eastward, should visit Baltimore before he did 
Philadelphia, situated a hundred miles further on his route, nor enough admire the 
mgenuity that conlil turn such a circumstance into a flattering complimeiU to the 
former city. We should not have been surprised if the President, when lie heard 
this, had cut Mr. Stiles as short, by expressing his entire satisfaction, as Henry IV. 
ciU the French mayor, wiio came out to meet him on a similar occasion, and bci^^an 
a speeeh wliich he had prepared, containing ten reasons why they had not saluted 
his Majesty's approach with the discharge of cannon, the fu'st oi which was that 
they had no cannon, when the King interrupted him, and told him he might spare 
himself the trouble of giving the other nine." 



MONROE. 199 

While here the members of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati 
paid their respects to him and presented the following address : 

" Sir — Embracing the occasion which your attention, as Chief Magis- 
trate, to the military defence of the United States has afforded, it is 
with peculiar pleasure that the members of the Pennsylvania Society of 
the Cincinnati, a portion of the surviving few who were your associates 
in arms during the war of the revolution, approach to renew their per- 
sonal intercourse, and to assure you of their cordial support to the firm 
and impartial administration of the government, which, by combining 
in its measures domestic tranquillity with the respect of foreign nations, 
they confidently anticipate, will promote the best interests of the United 
States, and insure to our citizens the advantages of social harmony and 
individual happiness. 

" That you may participate those blessings, and enjoy the grateful 
esteem of a happy people, is the sincere wish of 

" Your faithful friends, and respectful fellow citizens." 

To which the President made the following reply : 

" Fellow Citizens — In attending to the military and naval defence of 
the United States, nothing can be more gratifying to me than to meet 
the surviving members of my associates in arms, who distinguished 
tliemselves in our revolutionary contest. I can never forget the dangers 
of that great epoch, nor be indifferent to the merit of those who partook 
in them. 

" To promote tranquillity at home, and respect abroad, by a firm and 
impartial administration, are among the highest duties of the Chief 
Magistrate of the United States. To acquit myself in the discharge of 
these duties with advantage to my fellow citizens, will be the imdovjat- 
ing object of my zealous exertions. Their approbation will be the 
highest recompense which I can receive." 

It is the province of biography and memoir writing to record matters 
too trifling for the dignity of history. With this impression we scatter 
through our pages descriptions of manners and ceremonies, too unim- 
portant, apparently, to warrant any minute details, but yet interesting, as 
depicting those every-day fashions and changes, about which we are all 
naturally curious. With these observations we would preface the fol- 
loAving account of the President's costume, and the extracts in the note^ 

* "Mrs. Monroe is an elegant, accomplished woman. She possesses a charming 
mind, and dignity of manners, which peculiarly fit her for her elevated station. Her 
retired domestic habits will be much annoyed by what is called here sucicti/, if she 
does not totally change the etiquette (if it may be called so) established by Mrs. 
Washington, Adams, and Madison — a routine which her feeble constitntion will not 
permit her to encounter; to go through it, she must become a perfect slave to the 
sacrifice of her health. The president, secretanes, senators, members, fiireign 
ministers, consuls, comptrollers, auditors, accountants, officers of the navy and 
army of every grade, farmers, merchants, parsons, priests, lawyers, judges, notaries, 
auctioneers, ofl[ice-hunters, brokers, clerks, stay-tape and buckram gentry, sjiccula- 
tors, and nothin ^arinns — all with their wives, and some with their gawking otlspring — 
crowd to the President's every Wednesday evening — some in shoes, most in boots, 
and many in spurs — some snuffing, others chewing, and many longing for their cigar 
and whiskey punch left at home — some with powdered heads, others frizzled and 



200 MONROE. 

from a letter from Washington, dated previously to the inauguration of 
Mr. Monroe in his new office. 

The barge fitted up for the reception of the President at Philadelphia, 
was lined and trimmed with crimson velvet, and rowed by sixteen oarsmen, 
dressed in scarlet vests, white sleeves and trowsers. The President was 
dressed in a dark blue coat, buff vest, doe-skin buff-colored breeches and 
top boots ; he wore a military cocked hat of the fashion of the revolution, 
and a black bowed ribbon of the same fashion as a cockade. 

On Thursday, the 12th of June, the President visited the fortifications 
and navy-yard at New-York, amidst salutes of cannon. On the follow- 
ing day he was publicly initiated as a member of the Literary and Phi- 
losophical Society of New-York, when the President of the Association, 
Mr. De Witt Clinton, delivered an address. The reply of President 
Monroe to the address of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the 
city of New-York, is one of the happiest specimens of the parade day 
oratory required for such an occasion. It is concise, vigorous, and 
eloquent : 

"Fellow Citizens — In performing a duty enjoined on me by the con- 
stitution and laws of the United States, I cannot express the satisfaction 
which I derive froni the intercourse to which it leads Avith so many of 
my fellow citizens ; and from the opportunity it affords, to behold in per- 
son the blessings which an all gracious Providence has extended to them. 
In executing the laws which Congress have wisely adopted for the national 
defence, the Atlantic and inland frontiers of this State, by their exposed 
situation, are entitled to particular attention. I am aware, too, that this 

oiled, Avith some whose heads a comb has never touched, half hid by dirty collars, 
reaching above their ears, as stifl" as pasteboard. ' IMrs. President, this is my wife' 
— 'Ma'am, this is my daughter' — 'Mr. President, this is my Dick, a hopeful youth, 
"just freoil from college rules," and light as the vapor he pnOs from Havana's best.' 

"llow distressing to every man who feels for tlie honor and dignity of his govern- 
ment. Mrs. Madison feels all this, while she is harassed to death by these boobies. 
She must feel greatly relieved by her prospect of retirement. She is justly adored 
by all parlies. This estimable M'oman, in ' stooping to conquer,' has carried her 
amiability and aflability as far as to return the visits of all those who have called on 
her. It ought not to be expected that the wife of the President should return visits. 
Our nation is increasing so fast, and there is such an influx of foreigners here 
(parliculiirly at this season of the year) that a stop ought to be put to it, and some 
rules adopted for the presentation of strangers to the Chief Magistrate and his 
family; otherwise his valuable time will be absorbed in ridiculous visits from the 
idle and curious. In the drawing-room no one ought, in my opinion, to be admitted, 
Avithout a previous introduction to the President by some respectable member of the 
government ; and if those members were not discreet in the characters and nuvibers 
of these introductions, they ought to be told of it. All judicious, sensible persons 
see now the necessity of such arrangements. 

" Tliese foreign ministers and agents, too, are far too intimate at the President's, 
and with the dillerent branches of the government. ToAvards them the same eti- 
quette ought to be adoptetl, as is known to exist at their own courts. This they 
w(nild not complain of. There is a respect due to our sachems, which this vulgar 
state of things diminishes. We allow our generals and commanders of ships to 
establish formalities at their posts, and on their quarter-decks ; and will you not 
allow the President to form certain rules for the government of his house and the 
distribution of his time ?" 



MONROE. 201 

populous and flourishing city presents, in time of war, a strong temptation 
to the cupidity of an invading foe. It is in the spirit of the laws which 
I am called to execute, it is in the spirit of the people whom I represent, 
to provide amply for the security of every part, according to the danger 
to Avliich it is exposed. In performing this duty, I shall endeavor to be 
their faithful organ. 

"The present prosperous condition of our country is, as you justly 
observe, the best proof of the excellence of our institutions, and of the 
wisdom with which they have been administered. 

" It affords, too, a solid ground on which to indulge the most favorable 
anticipations as to the future. An enlightened people, educated in the 
principles of liberty, and blessed with a free government — bold, vigorous, 
and enterprising in the pursuit of every just and honorable attainment^ 
united by the strong ties of a common origin, of interest, and affection — 
possessed of a vast and fertile territory — improving in agriculture, in the 
arts and manufactures — extending their commerce to every sea — already 
powerful, and rapidly increasing in population — have every inducement 
and every means whereby to perpetuate these blessings to the latest pos- 
terity. 

"The honorable termination of the late war, whereby the rights of the 
nation loere vindicated, should not lull us into repose — the events attend- 
ing it show our vulnerable points ; and it is in time of peace that we 
ought to provide by strong works for their defence. 

" The gallantry and good conduct of our army, navy, and militia, and 
the patriotism of our citizens, generally, so conspicuously displayed in 
that war, may always be relied on. Aided by such works, our frontiers 
will be impregnable. 

" Devoted to the principles of our government from my earliest youth, 
and satisfied that the great blessings which we enjoy are, under Divine 
Providence, imputable to that great cause, it will be the object of my con- 
stant and zealous efforts to give to those principles their best effect 
Should I, by these efforts, contribute in any degree to the happiness of 
my fellow citizens, I shall derive from it the highest gratification of which 
my mind is susceptible." 

"While in New York the President was elected a member of the So- 
ciety for the encouragement of American Manufactures ; he attended a 
meeting of that Society, and avowed his desire to promote the object of 
their institution. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison 
were elected members at the same time. 

The President was received in a similar style of respectful hospitality, 
at New Haven, Hartford, Middletown, Springfield, and Boston. On 
reaching the southern entrance of Boston, he was met by the Committee 
of Arrangements, and received with a few words of welcome from the 
Honorable Mr. Otis : " Sir — You are now arrived within the limits of 
Boston, and these gentlemen are a Committee appointed to welcome your 
approach, and escort you to your lodgings. Upon your arrival there, 
they will avail themselves of your permission, to express to you in a more 
formal and respectful manner than can be done here, the assurances of the 
unfeigned satisfaction which the citizens of Boston realize in the honor 
26 



202 MONROE. 

you have been pleased to confer upon tliem by this visit." A procession 
•was ihtni forniecl, unci the President was escorted through the principal 
streets of the city to the rooms provided for his reception in the Exchange 
CoU'ee-Ilouse. During the march of the cavalcade, salutes were fired 
from Dorchester heiglits, from the common, Fort Independence, and the 
navy-yard. State-street, through which the procession passed, was 
fancifully decorated with the flags of the United States, and the numerous 
merchant ships in the hiu-bor made a brilliant display of their stars afid 
stripes. The crowd of spectators which surrounded the procession was 
immense, greater than any which had been witnessed since the visit of 
Washington. Shortly after the arrival of the President at his rooms, he 
accompanied the Committee to the second gallery of the old Exchange, 
where the Chairman of the Connnittee of Arrangements made an address 
in behalf of the inhabitants of Boston. He remained in Boston for seve- 
ral days, and was received with the greatest kindness and respect by all 
its citizens without distinction of party. ^ 

The President continued his journey, and was received with similar 
tokens of honor at the principal towns on his northern route. Much 
disappoimment was expressed at the manner in which the President was 

* The niinuteiu'ss with which the movements of the President are chronicled in the 
newspapers of the tiine, ahnost reininils us of the similar details of the British jour- 
nals in respect to the various niovenieiUs of their nobility. The following is the 
account of iiis visit to Charlesiown : 

"On Saturday mormng the President visited the nav)'-ynrd in Charlcstown, con- 
ducted by Commodore Hull, the Commissioner. He inspected, with much minuteness, 
but with rapidity, the numerous branches of this important antl extensive establish- 
ment ; antl which tlie Conunissioner has ornamented with numerous improvements. 
After inspecting tlie arsenal, warehouses, depots of ordnance and naval stores, and 
the various (quarters and barracks, the President went on boaril the ships in ordinary 
— the Consliliition, Java, JMaeedoiiinn, and Ciuerriere. He took [)articular interest in 
examining 'Old Iron-Sides,' which vessel, we understood, he said, 'ougiit not to be 
again sent to sea, but be preserveil as a monumeiU of national glory.' The marine 
garrison, under Captain VVainwright, did tiie guard of honor iluties n])on the oceasitm, 
and exhibited a state of exact discipline. On his entrance and departure from the 
navy-Vivi'd, the President was saluted with nineteen guns from the water battery of 
the yard. Al\er the examination of the whole establishment, the President partook 
of a sumptuous and elegant (Icjcii/r' with Mrs. Hull, the lady of lite Coumiissioner. 
Of the guests were nearly two hundred })ersonages, embracing His Excellency the 
Governor, His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor, Counsellors, Senators and Ke]iresen- 
tatives of the State, Members of Congress, Judges and Magistrates, Conunotlore 
Bainbridge, and numerous naval otHcers, General Miller, and numerous otliccrs of 
the army, and many strangers of eminence. The breakfast table was ornamented 
with the superb vases and services of plate presented to the Commodore by the citi- 
zens of rhiladel]ilua and Charleston. The ['resident was on the right, and Governor 
Brooks on the left of Mrs. Hull ; and the sjilendor of the martial insignia, united with 
the lustre of beauty and accomplishment, heighteneil the ensemble of a bantjuet 
which displayed the taste of the fair hostess, and the nuuiificence of the gallant Com- 
toodore. 

" Among the persons introduced to the President, on Bunker Hill, were Mr. Thomas 
Miller. Timothy Thompson, anil John Kettel, the only surviving iidiabilaiUs of Charles- 
town, who were ui the memorable battle that conunenced the war of Indeiiemleiice, 
twt llio very spot they then trod upon. The President received them with much utTar 
bility, and was evidently aflected with the scene."' 



MONKOE. 203 

received la New Hampshire. During- the whole of his tour, he had re- 
ceived the pcM-yoiml attention of all the executives of the States on enter- 
ing their limits, until he reached New Hamnshire. Being then left by 
the Massachusetts escort, he was obliged to trust himself to stagedrivers 
and guideposts, until he arrived at Greenland. Here he was received 
by a large number of the citizens of Portsmouth, and conducted to the 
metropolis. The neglect of the Governor in not waiting upon the Presi- 
dent, nor providing him an escort, was the subject of much witticism at 
the time among the journals of both parties. " How Governor Plumer," 
observed one paper, "will excuse his conduct upon this occasion, we are 
unable to say. The eastern doctors disagree upon this subject. One 
editor says, he did not order out the militia because he had not the power. 
Another says, he possessed the power, but not the disposition. A third 
observes, that, being tenacious of the honor of the State, his Excellency 
wisely concluded that his non-appearance in public would be attended 
with the least disgrace to his constituents. A fourth says, it is owing to 
an art passed by the Legislature a few weeks since, offering a bounty for 
killing crows ; which makes it extremely hazardous for his Excellency 
to ajipeiir in jiublic. But, after all, we suspect these gentlemen do not 
understand the business. The expenses of a parade must necessarily be 
considerable; and the probability is, that the Governor, having gene- 
rously relinquished a very considerable portion of his salary for the pur- 
cliase of popularity, could not well aflbrd it. This we suspect is the true 
secret; and if so, the censures passed upon the Governor are very unjust 
and wicked." His Excellency afterwards addressed an apologetical let- 
ter to Mr. Moru'oe, explaining his personal non-attendance by his ill 
health, and stating that by the jealousy of the State Constitution on the 
subject of the militia, he was not authorized to call them out, except for cer- 
tain known objects particularly designated. We hope that the conscien- 
tious scruples of the worthy Governor will find numerous examples of 
imitation on more important subjects. 

It is not necessary to follow the President particularly in his northern 
and western progress. On leaving Portsmouth, he directed his course 
westward to rlaitsburg, in the state of New York. In his route thitlier, 
he visited Dover, Concord, and Hanover, in New Hampshire, and Wind- 
sor and Burlington, in Vermont. The important post at Plattsburg 
occupied his attention for several days. From this place he continued 
westward to Ogdcnsburg, Sackett's Harbor, and Detroit. He reached 
Washington, on his return, on the 19th of September. Here he was re- 
ceived with honors similar to those which had been paid to him else- 
where, and returned the following answer to the address of the Mayor 
and Aldermen of Washington : 

" 1 cannot express in sufficiently strong terms the gratification which I 
feel in returning to the seat of government, after the long and very inte- 
resting tour in which I have been engaged ; and I beg you to be assured 
that nothing can contribute more to dissipate the fatigue to which I have 
been exposed, than the very cordial reception which has been given me 
by my fellow citizens and neighbors, of the city and district. 

"I shall always look back to the important incidents of my late tour, 



204 MONROE. 

with peculiar sa .isfaction. 1 flatter myself that I have derived from it 
information, which will be very useful in the discharge of the duties of 
the high trust confided to me ; and, in other respects, it has afforded me 
the highest gratification. In all that portion of our country through 
which I have passed, I have seen, with delight, proofs the most conclu- 
sive of the devotion of our fellow citizens to the principles of our free 
republican government, and to our happy union. The spontaneous and 
independent manner in which these sentiments were declared, by the 
great body of the people, with other marked circumstances attending 
them, satisfied me that they came from the heart. United firmly in the 
support of these great, these vital interests, we may fairly presume that 
ull difficulty on minor questions will disappear. 

" In returning to the city of Washington, I rejoice to find the public 
building, intended for the accommodation of the Chief Magistrate, in a 
state to receive me, and to admit within it this friendly interview with 
you." 

Thus terminated the felicitous tour of President Monroe, which could 
not fail to prove of lasting benefit to the states, by bringing the Execu- 
tive in such close connexion with all over whom its power was exerted, 
by conciliating sectional prejudices, and giving birth to a generous mu- 
tuality of confidence between the people and their Chief Magistrate. 

Op the first of ^December, in pursuance of constitutional provisions, 
the members of the new Congress assembled at the Capitol, when each 
house organized itself, and adopted the usual preliminaries of business. 
Mr. Gaillard of South Carolina took the chair of the Senate as President 
pro tern ; twenty-three members were present. A committee was then 
appointed to join one from the House, to wait on the President of the 
United States, and inform him that they were ready to receive his com- 
munications. The members of the House were called to order by their 
old clerk, Mr. Dougherty, and they proceeded immediately to the choice 
of a Speaker, when Mr. Henry Clay received one hundred and forty 
from one hundred forty-seven votes, and was declared to be elected. Be- 
ing conducted to the chair, and the oath having been administered, Mr. 
Clay delivered the following address : 

" If we consider, gentlemen, the free and illustrious origin of this as- 
sembly ; the extent and magnitude of the interests committed to its charge ; 
and tho brilliant prospects of the rising confederacy, whose destiny may 
be mnterially affected by the legislation of Congress ; the House of Repre- 
sentatives justly ranks among the most eminent deliberative bodies that 
have existed. To be appointed to preside at its deliberations is an ex- 
alted honor of which I entertain the highest sense. And I pray you to 
accept, for the flattering manner in which you have conferred it, my pro- 
found acknowledgments. 

" If I bring into the chair, gentlemen, the advantage of some experi- 
ence of its duties, /ar from inspiring me with undue confidence, that ex- 
perience serves only to fill me with distrust of my own capacity. I have 
been taught by it how arduous those duties are, and how unavailing 
would be any efforts of mine to discharge them, without the liberal sup- 
port and cheering countenance of the House, I shall anxiously seek, 



MONROE. 205 

gentlemen, to merit that support and countenance by an undeviating aim 
at impartiality, and at the preservation of that decorum, without the ob- 
servance of which the public business must be illy transacted, and the 
dignity and the character of the House seriously impaired." 

On the following day Mr. Monroe transmitted to both Houses of Con- 
gress the customary message. He opened with a few remarks on the 
happy and prosperous condition of our country, the establishment of pub- 
lic credit and the fortunate dissipation of local prejudices. Among the 
principal topics of the message were the arrangement between Great 
Britain and the United States for the reduction of the naval force upon 
the lakes ; the report of the commissioners on the island in Passama- 
quoddy Bay; the negociation with Spain for spoliations on our com- 
merce, and the settlement of boundaries ; and our relations with the 
various powers of Europe. The view of our internal aflairs was repre- 
sented as very gratifying ; and the revenue was described as in a very 
productive state. It promised ability to redeem the whole of the Loui- 
siana debt, and to discharge the Mississippi stock by the year 1819. 
The militia force of the several States was estimated at eight hundred 
thousand men, and an improvement in their organization and discipline 
was recommended to the unremitted attention of Congress. Purchases 
from the Indian tribes on the borders of Lake Erie, and the other public 
lands of the Union, form other subjects of consideration. The most im- 
portant part of the message is that which has reference to the subject of 
internal improve/nents, in which the President expresses his opinion of 
the constitutionality of the interference of Congress. This is embraced 
in the portion of the message extracted below. 

" When we consider the vast extent of territory within the United 
States, the great amount and value of its productions ; the connexion of 
its parts, and other circumstances, on which their prosperity and happi- 
ness depend, we cannot fail to entertain a high sense of the advantage to 
be derived from the facility which may be afforded in the intercourse 
between them, by means of good roads and canals. Never did a country 
of such vast extent offer equal inducements to improvements of this kind, 
nor ever were consequences of such magnitude involved in them. As 
this subject was acted on by Congress at the last session, and there may 
be a disposition to revive it at the present, I have brought it into view, 
for the purpose of communicating my sentiments on a very important 
circumstance connected with it, with that freedom and candor which a 
regard for the public interest, and a proper respect for Congress, require. 
A difference of opinion has existed, from the first formation of our con- 
stitution to the present time, among our most enlightened and virtuous 
citizens, respecting the right of Congress to establish such a system of 
improvement. Taking into view the trust with which I am now honored, 
it would be improper, after what has passed, that the discussion should 
be revived, with an uncertainty of my opinion respecting the right. 
Disregarding early impressions, I have bestowed on the subject all the 
deliberation which its great importance, and a just sense of my duty, 
required — and the result is, a settled conviction in my mind, that Congress 
do not possess the right. It is not contained in any of the specified powers 



206 MONROE. 

granted to Congress ; nor can I consider it incidental to, or a necessary 
mean, viewed on the most liberal scale, for carrying into effect any of the 
powers which are specifically granted. In communicating this result, I 
cannot resist the obligation which I feel to suggest to Congress the pro- 
priety of recommending to the States the adoption of an amendment to 
the Constitution, which shall give to Congress the right in question. In 
cases of doubtful construction, especially of such vital interest, it comports 
with the nature and origin of our institutions, and will contribute much 
to preserve them, to apply to our constituents for an explicit grant of the 
power. We may confidently rely, that if it appears to their satisfaction, 
that the power is necessary, it will always be granted. In this case I am 
happy to observe, that experience has afforded the most ample proof of 
its utility, and that the benign spirit of conciliation and harmony which 
now manifests itself throughout our Union, promises to such a recom- 
mendation the most prompt and favorable result. I think proper to sug- 
gest, also, in case this measure is adopted, that it be recommended to the 
States to include, in the amendment, a right in Congress to institute, 
likewise, seminaries of learning, for the all-important purpose of diffusing 
knowledge among our feUow citizens throughout the United States. 

•' Our mamifactories will require the continued attention of Congress. 
The capital employed in them is considerable, and the knowledge 
acquired in the machinery and fabric of nil the most useful manufactures 
is of great value. Their preservation, which depends on due encourage- 
ment, is connected with the high interests of the nation. 

" Ahhough the progress of the public buildings has been as favorable 
as circumstances have permitted, it is to be regretted that the Capitol is 
not yet in a state to receive you. There is good cause to presume that 
the two wings, the only part as yet commenced, will be prepared for that 
purpose at the next session. Tlie time seems now to have arrived, when 
this subject may be deemed worthy the attention of Congress, on a scale 
adequate to national purposes. The completion of tin? middle building 
will be necessary to the convenient accommodation of Congress, of the 
committees, and various offices belonging to it. It is evident that the 
other public buildings are altogether insuflicient for the accommodation 
of the several executive departments, some of whom are much crowded, 
and even subjected to the necessity of obtaining it in private buildings, 
at some distance from the head of the department, and with inconve- 
nience to the management of the public business. Most nations have 
taken an interest and a pride in the improvement and ornament of their 
metropolis, and none were more conspicuous in that respect than the 
ancient republics. The policy which dictated the establishment of a 
permanent residence for the national govermnent, and the spirit in which 
it was commenced ai\d has been prosecuted, show that such inqirovements 
were thought worthy the attention of this nation. Its central position, 
between the northern and southern extremes of our union, and its ap- 
proach to the west, at the head of a great navigable river, which inter- 
locks with the western waters, prove the «visdom of the councils which 
established it. Nothing appears to be more reasonable and proper, than 
that convenient accommodations should be provided, on n well digested 



MONROE. aw 

plan, for the heads of the several departments, and for the Attorney 
General ; and it is believed ihat the public ground in the city, applied to 
tbose objects, will be found amply sufficient. I submit this subject to the 
consideration of Congress, that such further provision may be made in it, 
as to them may seem proper. 

" In contemplating the happy situation of the United States, our atten- 
tion is drawn, with peculiar interest, to the surviving officers and soldiers 
of our revolvxtionary army, who so eminently contributed, by their services, 
to lay its foundation. Most of those very meritorious citizens have paid 
the debt of nature, and gone to repose. It is believed that among the 
survivors there are some not provided for by existing laws, who are re- 
duced to indigence, and even to real distress. These men have a claim 
on the gratitude of their country, and it will do honor to their country to 
provide for them. The lapse of a few years more, and the opportunity 
will be forever lost : indeed, so long already has been the interval, that 
the number to be benefited by any provision which may be made, will 
not be great. 

" It appearing in a satisfactory manner that the revenue arising from 
imposts and tonnage, and from the sale of the public lands, will be fully 
adequate to the support of the civil government, of the present military 
and naval establishments, including the annual augmentation of the latter, 
to the extent provided for ; to the payment of the interest on the public 
debt, and to the extinguishment of it at the times authorized, without the 
aid of the internal taxes ; I consider it my duty to recommend to Con- 
gress their repeal. To impose taxes, when the public exigencies require 
them, is an obligation of the most sacred character, especially with a free 
people. The faithful fulfilment of it is among the highest proofs of 
their virtue and capacity for self-government. To dispense with taxes, 
when it may be done with perfect safety, is equally the duty of their 
representatives. In this instance we have the satisfaction to know that 
they were imposed when the demand was imperious, and have been sus- 
tained with exemplary fidelity. I have to add, that however gratifying 
it may be to me, regarding the prosperous and happy condition of our 
country, to recommend the repeal of these taxes at this time, I shall 
nevertheless be attentive to events, and, should any future emergency 
occur, be not less prompt to suggest such measures and burthens as may 
then be requisite and proper." 

On the eleventh of December, the State of Mississippi was acknow- 
ledged by Congress as sovereign and independent, and was admitted to 
the Union. In the course of the same month, an expedition which had 
been set on foot by a number of adventurers from different countries, 
against East and West Florida, was terminated by the troops of the 
United States. They had formed an establishment at Amelia Island, at 
that time the subject of negociation between Spain and our government, 
and their direct objects being imdoubtedly piratical, the law of nations 
and the stipulations of various treaties required of the United Slates to 
suppress it. A similar establishment had been previously formed at Gal- 
Vf'zton, a small island on the coast of Texas, and it was subsequently in 
a like nmnner sappressed. 



208 MONROE. 

Several important measures were adopted by Congress during ihe 
session 1817 — 18 ; among which were the bill fixing the compensation of 
members of Congress at eight dollars a day ; a second, in acquiescence 
with the suggestion of the President, to abolish internal duties ; and a 
third, providing, upon the same recommendation, for the indigent officers 
and soldiers of the revolutionary army. In April, 1818, Illinoi."* adopted 
a State constitution, and in December following was admitted ais a mem- 
ber of the Union. 

Soon after the conclusion of this session of Congress, the President, 
in pursuance of his determination to visit those parts of the United States 
most exposed to the enemy, prepared to survey the Chesapeake bay, and 
the country lying on its extensive shores. In the month of May, he left 
Washington, accompanied by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the 
Navy, and>other gentlemen of distinction. On his arrival at Annapolis, 
the President and his suite made a minute examination of the contiguous 
waters, in reference to their fitness for a naval depot. After making a 
farther examination of the coast, he proceeded to Norfolk. Having at 
length accomplished the principal object of his tour, he returned to 
Washington on the seventeenth of June, through the interior of Virginia 
The same demonstrations of respect and affection that were extended t<? 
him during his northern tour, followed him in this. 

On the twenty-seventh of May, 1818, a treaty concluded at Stock 
holm with the government of Sweden, by Mr. Russell, Minister Plenipo 
tentiary to that court, was ratified by the President and Senate on the 
part of the United States. During the same year a war was carried 
on between the United States and the Seminole Indians, v/hich terminat- 
ed in the complete discomfiture of the latter party. A particular account 
of this war is given in the life of President Jackson, who bore a con- 
spicuous part in it. 

On the twenty-eighth of January, 1819, a convention between Great 
Britain and the United States, concluded at London, October 20th, 1818, 
and ratified by the Prince Regent on the second of November following, 
was ratified by the President of the United' States. By the first article 
of this convention, the citizens of the United States have liberty, in 
commoii with the subjects of Great Britain, to take fish on the southern, 
western, and northern coast of Newfoundland. The second article estab- 
lishes the northern boundaries of the United States from the Lake of the 
Woods, to the Stony Mountains. By the fourth article, the commercial 
convention between the two countries, concluded at London, in 1815, is 
extended for the term of ten years longer. 

On the twenty-second of February following, a treaty Avas concluded 
at Washington, by John Quincy Adams, and Luis de Onis, by which 
East and West Florida, with all the islands adjacent, were ceded by 
Spain to the United States. By this treaty the western boundary between 
the United States and Spain was settled. A sum not exceeding five 
millions of dollars was to be paid by the United States out of the proceeds 
of sales of lands in Florida, or in stock, or money, to citizens of the 
United States, on account of Spanish spoliations and injuries. To liqui- 
date the claims, a board was to be constituted by the government of the 



MONROE. 209 

United States, of American citizens, to consist of three commissioners, 
who should report within three years. 

On the second of March, 1819, the government of the Arkansas Ter- 
ritory was organized by act of Congress. During the following summer, 
the President visited the southern section of the country, having in view 
the same great national interests which had prompted him in his previous 
tour to the north. In this tour the President visited Charleston, Savan- 
nah, and Augusta ; thence he proceeded to Nashville, through the 
Cherokee nation, and thence to Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky., and 
returned to the seat of government early in August. 

The most important topic of consideration, during the ensuing session, 
w.'-S connected with the admission of the territory of Missouri into the 
Union. It was on the expediency of imposing it as a condition of this 
admission, that the future removal or transportation of slaves into that 
territory should be prohibited. This question divided itself into three 
branches : 1. The constitutionality of the measure. 2. Its conformity 
to the stipulations of the treaty of 1803, by which France ceded the 
territory in question to the United States. 3. The expediency of th^. 
measure, as it might affect the relative condition of slaves in the UniteCK 
States, and as it might affect the relations between different parts of the 
Union. The afhrmative and negative of these propositions were sup- > 
ported with equal zeal and eloquence by nearly equal numbers. Mr. 
Rufus King, and Mr. John Sergeant, took the lead in this debate in favor 
of restriction ; Mr. Clay and Mr. Pinckney were the champions of the 
opposite party. This questioft gave rise to great warmth of feeling, and 
seemed at one time to threaten the dissolution of the Union. "^ In the 

* In the debate in the Senate on this subject, Mr. Lowrie, of Maryland, observed — 
"Before I sit down, permit me to advert to some expressions which have fallen from 
gentlemen in this debate. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Barbour) the other 
day told us, that this subject will be an ignited spark, which, communicated to an 
immense mass of combustion, will produce an explosion that vn\[ shake this Union 
to its centre. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. "Walker) tells us, that he thinks he 
hears the thunders roll, he sees the father arrayed against the son, and the brother 
drawing the bloody sword from the bosom of the brother ! Mr. President, I will not 
now detain the Senate, by inquirmg in which of the States these combustible mate- 
rials are, or by pointing out the field on which the battle will be fought. Before that 
bill leaves your table, if no other gentleman takes up this part of the subject, I may 
perhaps take the liberty of looking at it a little more in detail ; not, sir, as a member 
from a single state, but as one of the representatives of the whole United States. At 
present, however, I will only observe, that I also believe, with those gentlemen, that 
we are drawing to a very serious crisis ; to save us from which, all the wisdom of 
the present Congress, as well as the blessings of the Almighty, will be necessary. 
But, sir, if the alternative be, as gentlemen thus broadly intimate, a dissolution of 
the Union, or the extension of slavery over this whole western country, I, for one, 
will choose the former. I do not say this lightly ; I am aware that the idea is a 
dreadful one. The choice is a dreadful one. Either side of the alternative fills my 
mind with horror. I have not however yet despaired of the republic. And, unless 
the melancholy result convinces me to the contrary, I must still believe, that we 
are able to dispose of this distracting question so as to satisfy the reasonable expeo 
tations of the people of the United States." 

A New York paper remarks, " We have no fear as to the result of this war o*" 
words. Mr. liang, were he left to struggle single-handed, would, on this subject, 
27 



210 MONROE. 

view of the subject taken by Mr. King, he confined himself chiefly to 
the power of Congress to lay this restriction, implied in the general 
authority to admit new States, and to the nature of state sovereignty. 
The concluding portion of his speech was devoted to a very high and 
momentous consideration: that by the law of nature, and the eternal rule 
of justice, there can be no such thing as a right in a fellow creature to 
hold him and his posterity in bondage ; that treaties and constitutions 
ought to be construed in the sense of this great paramount law; and that 
the toleration of slavery in the original States and those fornaed from the 
original States, a toleration acknowledged to have grown out of necessity, 
could furnish no ground for originating this unjust institution, where such 
necessity does not exist. In a subsequent speech he alluded to the 
injustice of placing freemen on the footing of slaves; and to the sense 
of injury which the inhabitants of the free States must and ought to 
feel at finding themselves outvoted by an union of freemen and slaves, 
in any ratio whatever. He stated and repeated that the slave ratio in 
the representation of the old States, and those formed out of the old 
States, was a matter of deliberate and sacred compact. But he main- 
tained that to force upon the non-slave-holding States new parties to this 
compact, and to continue to extend the slave ratio over the vast tract of 
country groAving up into new States, was an injustice most flagrant in its 
nature, and ruinous in its necessary consequences. 

In the progress of this discussion an attempt was made to annex the 
Missouri bill to the Maine bill ; it was proposed in the Senate, and 
rejected by the House. The course taken in the final decision of the 
question of restriction was not a little remarkable. On the last day of 
February, 1820, after one of the longest and ablest debates ever held in 
Congress, the House of Kepresentatives voted, by a majority of eight, to 
adopt an amendment to the Missouri bill restricting slavery ; and on the 
first day of March, they voted, by a majority of four, to reject the amend- 
ment, to which they had so deliberately agreed.* On the third of March, 
an act was passed, admitting Maine into the Union on an equal footing 
with the original States. 

One of the most unfortunate incidents of a public nature that mark 
this period of our history, is the death of Commodore Decatur. He fell 
in a duel fought on the twenty-first of March with Commodore Barron. 
The course pursued by the House of Representatives on this occasion 

triumph over the combined battery of senatorial combatants for the extension of 
slavery. He will, however, be powerfully supported by Otis, Mellen, Roberts, and 
others ; who, in point of talents, rank high in our national senate." 

*The Missouri question is at length decided. The fatal die is cast, by -which a 
new woimd is inflicted on the honor of our country, and the curse of slavery is 
extended over a tract of country nearly equal to the five original slave-holding 
States of the Union. This has been done by means of the votes of men in both 
houses of Congress, whose constituents have unequivocally expressed their disappro- 
bation of the measure. The veto was decided in both houses by men who acted in 
opposition to the expressed instructions of their State Legislatures ; the decision in 
the House of Representatives by the votes of two men from our own State ; one of 
them even from our own tovm, and almost the only man belonging to the town who 
did not anxiously wish for a contrary decision. — Boston Repertory. 



MONROE. 211 

was highly dignified and honorable. Eminent as had been the public 
services of the deceased, they refused to take the usual notice of such an 
event by adjournment, because he had fallen in violation of the laws 
of God and of his country. His funeral took place at Washington on 
the twenty-fifth of the month. An immense assemblage of citizens was 
collected on the melancholy occasion. His remains were attended to the 
vault at Kalorama, in which they were deposited, by a great part of the 
male population of the city and adjacent country, by the President of the 
United States, and nearly all the officers of government, members of 
Congress, and representatives of foreign governments at that time resi- 
dent in Washington. Due military honors were rendered on the occasion 
by the marine corps under the command of Major Miller, and minute 
guns were fired from the navy-yard during the procession and funeral 
service. 

On the twenty-seventh of March, the President transmitted to Congress 
an extract of a letter from the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 
States at St. Petersburgh, bearing date the preceding first of November, 
on the subject of our relations with Spain ; indicating the sentiments of 
the Emperor of Russia, respecting the non-ratification, by his Catholic 
Majesty, of the treaty recently concluded between the United States and 
Spain, and the strong interest taken by his majesty in promoting the ratifi- 
cation of that treaty. He also transmitted an extract of a letter from our 
Minister at Madrid, of a later date than those previously communicated, 
by which it appears, that at the instance of the Charge des Affaires of the 
Russian Emperor, a new pledge had been given by the Spanish government 
that the Minister who had been lately appointed to the United States, should 
:>; -set out on his mission without delay, with full power to settle all differences 
,*'/■, in a manner satisfactory to the parties. The President further communi- 
"' -'"cated that the governments of France and Russia had expressed an earnest 
desire that the United States would take no immediate step on the principle 
of reprisal, which might tend to disturb the peace between the States and 
Spain. Under these circumstances, he submitted to Congress the pro- 
priety of. postponing a decision on the questions then depending with 
Spain, until the next session. 

On the tenth of May, the President communicated to Congress another 
message on the same subject. The minister sent from Spain had received 
no authority to surrender the territory in dispute, and the treaty with 
Spain still remained unratified by his Catholic Majesty. The object of 
his misfeion was merely to make complaints, and demand explanations 
respecting an imputed system of hostility on the part of citizens of the 
United States, against the subjects and dominions of Spain, and an 
unfriendly policy in their government, and to obtain new stipulations 
against these alleged injuries, as the condition on which the treaty should 
be ratified. One proposition of the minister was, that the United States 
should abandon the right to recognise the revolutionary colonies in South 
America, or to form new relations with them. In short, the treaty Avas 
declared to be of no obli"^ation whatever ; and its ratification was made to 
depend, not on the considerations which led to its adoption, and the con- 
ditions which it contained, but on a new article unconnected vriih it, 



212 MONROE. 

respecting wliicli a new negocialion was to be opened, of indefinite dura- 
tion, and doublfiil issue. The concluding^ passage of this message is 
highly honorable to the feelings which prompted it. 

" llnder this view of the subject, the course to be pursued would 
appear to be direct and obvious, if the affairs of Spain had remained in 
the state in which they were when this minister sailed. But it is known 
that an im])orlant change has since taken place in the government of that 
country, which c:umot fail to be sensibly fell, in its intercourse with other 
nations. The Minister of Spain has essentially declared his inability to 
act, in consequence of that change. With him, however, under his 
present powers, nothing could be done. The attitude of the United 
States must now be assumed, on full consideration of what is due to their 
rights, their interest, and honor, without regard to the powers or incidents 
of the late mission. We may, at pleasure, occupy the territory, which 
was intended and provided by the late treaty as an indemnity for losses 
so long since sustained by our citizens, but still nothing could be settled 
delinitely, without a treaty between the two nations. Is this the time to 
make the pressure ? If the United States were governed by views of 
ambition and aggrandizement, many strong reasons might be given in its 
favor. But they have no objects of that kind to accomplish ; none which 
are not founded in justice, and which can be injured by forbearance. 
Great hope is entertained that this change will promote the happiness of 
the Spanish nation. The good order, moderation, and humanity, which 
have characterized the movement, are the best guarantees of its success. 
The United Stales would not be justified in their own estimation, should 
they take any sU-p to disturb its harmony. When the Spanish govern- 
ment is completely organized on the principles of this change, as it is 
expected it soon will be, there is just ground to presume that our diffe* 
rences with Spain will be speedily and satisfactorily settled. With these 
remarks, I submit it to the wisdom of Congress, whether it will not still 
be advisable to postpone any decision on this subject until the next 
session." 

On the thirteenth of November, 1820, Congress reassembled at Wash- 
mgton. Mr. Gaillard took the chair of the Senate as President p7'o tem- 
pore ; and a committee was appointed to wait on the President of the 
United States, to inform him of the organization of the Senate, and of its 
readiness to receive and act upon such comn\unication as he might think 
proper to make. In the House of Representatives, on calling over the 
roll, it appeared that there were present a sufficient number of members 
to constitute a quorum. This being ascertained, the clerk informed the 
House that he had received a letter from the Honorable Henry Clay, late 
Speaker of the House, in which Mr. Clay begged leave to resign the 
oliice of Speaker, as imperious circumstances would prevent him from 
attending to its duties till after the Christn-as holidays. This was ordered 
to lie on the table, and to be inserted in the journals of the House. The 
House then proceeded to ballot for a new Speaker, and no choice having 
been made after seven successive trials, an adjournment took place without 
i^lection. It was evident, from an inspection of the ballotings, that the old 
distinctions of paity had been broken down on the occasion, and that the 



MONROE. 213 

voles did not indicate the strength of any party before known in the 
country. 

The whole of the following day was spent by the House in an inefTec- 
tual attempt to choose a Speaker. Nineteen ballots took place, without 
the intervention of any circumstances, either from the accession of mem- 
bers, or a disposition to effect an union, to show whether or not a Speaker 
wns to be chosen. The favorite candidates were Mr. Lowndes, of South 
Carolina, Mr. J. W. Taylor, of New York, and Mr. Smith, of Maryland. 
On this day's bnlloling the former had a plurality of votes four times, 
Mr. Taylor five times, and Mr. Smith three times. 

On the second day of the session, a communication was made to the 
Senate by the President, accompanied with a copy of the Constitution as 
adopted for the government of the State of Missouri. This communica- 
tion having been read, it was resolved that a committee sJiould be 
appointed to inquire whether any, and if any, what legislative measures 
may be necessary for admitting the State of Missouri into the Union. 
On the following day, the choice of Speaker of the House was cfTected, 
and Mr. John W. Taylor, of New York, took the chair. The President's 
message was this day received and read. 

It commenced with an expression of much satisfaction at the state of 
public affairs, and of the general felicity of our situation. Nothing 
explicit was communicated in respect to our relations with Spain ; and 
no change had occurred in our relations with Great Britain. An attempt 
had been made to regulate our commerce with France, on the principle 
of reciprocity and equality, and the French minister was soon expected 
at Washington to attempt an arrangement of these important interests. 
The contest between Spain and her colonies was declared to be main- 
tained by the latter with most success. 

"In looking to the internal concerns of the country," continued the 
message, "you will, lam persuaded, derive much satisfaction from a view 
of the several objects to which, in the discharge of your official duties, 
your attention will be drawn. Among these, none holds a more iinpor- 
tant place than the public revenue, from the direct operation of the power 
by which it is raised, on the people, and by its influence in giving effect 
to every other power of the government. The revenue depends on the 
resources of the country, and the facility by which the amount required 
is raised, is a strong proof of the extent of the resources, and of the 
efficiency of the government. A few prominent facts will place this 
great interest in a just light before you. On the thirtieth of September, 
1815, the funded :ind floating debt of the United States was one hundred 
and nineteen millions six hundred and thirty-five thousand five hundred 
and fifty-eight dollars. If to this sum be added the amount of five per 
cent, stock, subscribed to the Bank of the United States, the amount of 
Mississippi stock, and of the stock which was issued subsequently to that 
date, the balances ascertained to be due to certain States, for military 
services, and to individuals, for supplies furnished, and services rendered, 
during the late war, the public debt may be estimated as amounting at 
that date, and as afterwards liquidated, to one hundred and fifty-eight 
millions seven hundred and thirteen thousand forty-nine dollars. On 



214 MONROE. 

the thirtieth of September, 1S20, it amounted to ninety-one millions nine 
hundred and ninety-three thousijnd eight hundred and eighty-three dol- 
lars, having been reduced in that interval, by payments, sixty-six millions 
eight hundred and seventy-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-five 
dollars. During this term, the expenses of the government of the United 
States were likewise defrayed, in every branch of the civil, military, and 
naval establishments ; the public edifices in this city have been rebuilt, 
with considerable additions ; extensive fortifications have been commenced, 
and are in a train of execution ; permanent arsenals and magazines have 
been erected in various parts of the Union ; our navy has been conside- 
rably augmented, and the ordnance, munitions of war, and stores, of the 
army and navy, which were much exhausted during the war, have been 
replenished. 

" By the discharge of so large a proportion of the public debt, and the 
execution of such extensive and important operations, in so short a time, 
a just estimate may be formed of the great extent of our national resour- 
ces. The demonstration is the more complete and gratifying, when it is 
recollected that the direct tax and excise were repealed soon after the 
termination of the late war, and that the revenue applied to these purposes 
has been derived almost wholly from other sources. 

" The receipts into the Treasury from every source, to the thirtieth of 
September last, have amounted to sixteen millions seven hundred and 
ninety-four thousand one hundred and seven dollars and sixty-six cents ; 
whilst the public expenditures, to the same period, amounted to sixteen 
millions eight hundred and seventy-one thousand five hundred and thirty- 
four dollars and seventy-two cents: leaving in the Treasury, on that day, 
a sum estimated at one million nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

" With the Indians peace has been preserved, and a progress made in 
carrying into effect the act of Congress, making an appropriation for their 
civilization, with the prospect of favorable results. As connected equally 
Avith both these objects, our trade with those tribes is thought to merit the 
attention of Congress. In their original state, game is their sustenance, 
and war their occupation ; and, if they find no employment from civilized 
powers, they destroy each other. Left to themselves, their extirpation i.<s 
inevitable. By a judicious regulation of our trade with them, we supply 
their wants, administer to their comforts, and gradually, as the game 
retires, draw them to us. By maintaining posts far in the interior, we 
acquire a more thorough and direct control over them ; without which it 
is confidently believed that a complete change in their manners can never 
be accomplished. By such posts, aided by a proper regulation of our 
trade with them, and a judicious civil administration over them, to be 
provided for by law, we shall, it is presumed, be enabled not only to pro- 
tect our own settlements from their savage incursions, and preserve peace 
among the several tribes, but accomplish also the great purpose of their 
civilization. 

" Considerable progress has also been made in the construction of ships 
of war, some of which have been launched in the course of the present 
year. 

" Our peace with the powers on the coast of Barbary has been preserved, 



MONROE. 216 

but we owe it altogether to the presence of our squadron in the Medi- 
terranean. It has been found equally necessary to employ some of our 
vessels for the protection of our commerce in the Indian sea, the Pacific, 
and along the Atlantic coast. The interests vi^iich we have depending 
in those quarters, which have been much improved of late, are of great 
extent, and of high importance to the nation, as well as to the parties 
concerned, and would undoubtedly suffer, if such protection was not 
extended to them. In the execution of the law of the last session, for 
the suppression of the slave trade, some of our public ships have also 
been employed on the coast of Africa, wjiere several captures have already 
been made of vessels engaged in that disgraceful traffic." 

On the twenty-fifth, Mr. Lowndes, from the committee on the Consti- 
tution of Missouri, made an able report on the subject, declaring said 
constitution to be republican, and concluding with a Resolve, That the 
State of Missouri shall be, and is hereby, declared to be one of the United 
States of America, and is admitted into the Union on an equal footing 
with the original States, in all respects whatever. Mr. Lowndes moved 
to refer the resolution to a committee of the whole, on the state of the 
union, which put it into the power of the House to act upon it at any 
time. Whilst on the floor, he took occasion to say that this report must 
be considered, as indeed must all reports of committees, as the act of a 
majority of the committee, and not as expressing the sentiment of every 
individual of the committee. The debate on this subject continued one 
week, and it was decided by a majority of fourteen in the House, that 
Missouri could not be admitted into the Union with the present Constitu- 
tion. This discussion was managed with great ability and good temper. 
The members from Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, voted unani- 
mously in support of the Missouri Constitution. The northern and 
middle States, with a few exceptions, cast all their votes against its 
admission. 

The Missouri question again presented itself in rather a different 
shape, on the fourteenth of February, 1S21, the day appointed by law 
for opening and counting the voles for President and Vice-President for 
the ensuing term. It was foreseen that a difficulty might arise in regard 
to the votes for Missouri, and, to guard against it, a resolution had been 
passed in the Senate the day before, directing, among other things, that 
in case any objection should be made to counting the votes returned from 
Missouri, and provided these votes would not make any difference in 
the result, the President should declare that if the votes of Missouri 
were counted, the number of votes for A. B. for President would be so 
many, and if the votes of Missouri were not counted, the number would 
be so many, and that in either case A. B. is elected. The same course 
in relation to Vice-President. This resolution was taken up in the 
House this morning. It was generally supported by the restrictionists, 
and was also warmly supported by Mr. Clay as the only mode of avoid- 
ing the difficulty. It was, however, opposed by most of the Missouri 
party. It was finally agreed to on the part of the House, sometime after 
the hour appointed for the meeting of the two Houses to count the votes. 



216 MONROE. 

The Constitution is not very explicit in prescribing^ the mode of proce- 
dure, or who shall be judge of the returns. The Senate had passed a 
resolution, directing that the President of the Senate should preside 
while the two Houses were assembled. The House of Representatives, 
not to yield the point of dignity, passed a resolution directing that the 
Speaker of the House should retain his seat, and that a chair should be 
provided at his right for the President of the Senate. A message was 
sent to the Senate to inform them that the House were ready to receive 
them in the Representatives' Chamber, and to proceed to count the votes. 
Mr. Clay moved that a commi|^tee should be appointed to receive the 
President and Senate at the door, and conduct them to their seats. This 
motion was opposed, as without precedent, but it prevailed. A part of 
the seats of the members, on the right of the chair, were vacated to 
accommodate the members of the Senate. The President of the Senate 
haAong taken his seat, the returns were laid before him by the clerk of 
the Senate, remaining sealed. Mr. Barbour, teller on the part of the 
Soiiate, and Messrs. Smith and Sergeant, tellers on the part of the 
House, sat at the clerk's table, and the clerks of the Senate and House 
occupied separate tables in front. The President of the Senate first took 
up the return from the State of New Hampshire, cut the seal and handed 
it to the teller on the part of the Senate. He first read the superscrip- 
tion, then the certificate of the Governor of the due appointment of the 
electors, — the record of proceedings of the electors, — the number of votes 
given for each candidate, duly certified by all the electors. The papers 
were then handed to one of the tellers on the part of the House, who 
repeated the reading of all the documents in the same order. The 
Clerk of the Senate, who in the meantime had made an entry of the 
votes given by the State for each candidnte, read it aloud. The clerk 
of the House then read the entry which he had made, precisely of the 
same import. The entries made by the clerks were then handed to the 
tellers and examined by them, and handed back to the clerks. The 
President of the Senate then took up the return of the State of Massa- 
chusetts, cut the seal, and handed it to the teller, and the same order of 
proceedings was had upon it as before. The same order' was observed 
in relation to the returns of all the States. Some of the returns were 
much more full and formal than others, and occupied much time in 
reading. The reading of the whole occupied several hours. When 
the President of the Senate came to the return of the votes of Missouri, 
Mr. Livermore of New Hampshire objected to their being received and 
counted, Missouri not being a State. As soon as this objection was 
made, a member of the Senate proposed that the Senators should with- 
draw. The Senate immediately withdrew, and Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, 
proposed a resolution, importing that Missouri is a State of the Union, 
and the votes returned from that State ought to be received and counted. 
A debate ensued on this resolution. A motion was made to postpone 
the consideration, and afterwards a motion to lay it on the table, which 
last prevailed. The Senate were then informed by message, that the 
House were ready to proceed in counting the votes. 

The Senate again came in. The return of Missouri was opened and 



MONROE. 217 

read and recorded by the clerks. The statement of the votes as return- 
ed was then read over by the President of the Senate, and he declared 
the resuh in the form prescribed by the joint resohation of the two 
Houses, viz. " If the votes of Missouri were counted, the number of votes 
for James Monroe would be two hundred and thirty-one ; if they are not 
counted, the number of votes for James Monroe is two hundred and twenty- 
eight, and for John Q. Adams one. For Vice-President, if the votes of 
Missouri were counted, the number of votes for D. D. Tompkins would 
be two hundred and eighteen, if not, two hundred and fifteen, &c." — 
This is not the precise form, but the words were to this effect. He 
was going on to declare Monroe and Tompkins duly elected, when Mr. 
Floyd rose, and addressing the President of the Senate, demanded to be 
informed whether the votes of Missouri were counted or not. The 
President of the Senate replied, that it was an occasion on which there 
could be no debate. Mr. Floyd repeated his question, and demanded 
an answer. The Speaker of the House rose and said that the gentle- 
man from Virginia must take his seat. Mr. Randolph rose and 
addressed the President of the Senate nearly to the same effect as he had 
been addressed by Mr. Floyd. The Speaker told him he was out of 
order, and must take his seat. Mr. Randolph remained upon the floor, 
and there were cries of order, order, from all parts of the House. The 
Speaker again told Mr. Randolph he must take his seat. Mr. R. sat 
down, and instantly Mr. Brush of Ohio, who sat near him, rose and 
.said, " I rise to support the right of the gentleman from Virginia." 
The Speaker told Mr. Brush that he also was out of order, and nmst 
take his seat. He sat down, and order being restored, the President 
of the Senate proceeded to declare James Monroe and D. D. Tompkins 
duly elected President and Vice-President. Mr. Randolph then rose 
and addressed the chair. 

Mr. Randolph said, it was not without reluctance that he offered 
hiniDelf to the attention of the House at this time ; but he submitted to 
the very worthy gentleman from Maryland who had just taken his seat, 
whether the object which he had in view could, according to his own 
views of propriety, be effectuated by the course which he had recommend- 
ed to this House. It was no part of his nature, Mr. R. said, nor of his 
purpose to inflate, to a greater magnitude this exaggerated question of 
the admission of Missouri into the Union. But the question had now 
assumed that aspect which, had it depended on him, it should have taken 
at an earlier period of the session. It was, he said, not only congenial 
with the principles and practices of our free government, but, unless he 
was deceived, with the practice of that country from which we have 
adopted, and wisely adopted, our manly institutions, that on any occasion 
when any person presents himself to a representative body with creden- 
tials of title to a seat, he shall take his seat, and perform the functions 
of a member, until a prior and a better claim shall not only be preferred, 
but established. It was seen, that, but the day before yesterday, the 
committee of elections of this House came forward with a report, stating 
that the qualifications and returns of certain members were perfect who 
iiave been acting and legislating, and on whose votes the laws of the 
28 



218 MONKOE. 

land Iiavc depended,- for the last three or four months. Just so it ought 
to have been witli regard to the Representative from tire State of Missouri. 
Slie luis now, said Mr. R., presented herself, for the first time, in a 
visible and tangible shape. She comes into this House, not in forma 
pauperis, but claiming to be one of the co-sovereignties of this confede- 
rated government, and presents to you her vote, by receiving or reject- 
ing which, the election of your Chief Magistrate will be lawful or unlawful; 
he did not mean by the vote of Missouri, but by the votes of all the States. 
Now comes the question, whether Ave will not merely repel her, but 
repel her with scorn and contumely. Cut bono ? And he might add, 
qtio loarranto 1 He should like to hear, he said, from the gentleman 
froiil New Hampshire (Mr Livermore) where this House gets its authori- 
ty — he should like to hear some of the learned (or unlearned) sages of 
the law, with which this House, as well as all our legislative bodies, 
abomids, shew tiieir authority for refusing to receive the votes from 
Missouri. Mr. R. said he went back to (irst principles. The Electoral 
Colleges, he said, are as independent of this House, as this House is 
of them. They had as good a right to pronounce on their qualifications, 
as this House has on those of its members. Your o(Hce, said he, in 
regard to the electoral votes, is merely ministerial. It is to count the 
votes, and you undertake to reject tlie votes. To what will this lead ? 
Do you ever expect to see the time when there shall be in the Presidential 
chair a creature so poor, so imbecile, not only not worthy of being at the 
head of the nation, but not worthy of being at the head of a potty 
corporation — do you ever expect to see in that otfice an animal so poor, 
as not to have in tliis House retainers enough to enable him to reject the 
vote of any State, which, being counted, might prevent his contuuiance, 
and their continuance, and that of their friends, in office ? He spoke 
not of the ])resent incumbent — he was not so wanting in common decency 
and decorum as to do so — he spoke in reference not only to what is past, 
but to that which is prospective, and which every man who looks the 
least into futurity, must know will happen, and, in all probability, will 
shortly happen. He undertook to say, that if this House should, by a 
vote of indefinite postponement — for the form was immaterial — or in 
any other way — and it would be observed, for the first instance in the 
person of Missouri, of this much injured, long insulted, trampled upon 
member of this confederacy, was this example to be set — if, said he, you 
do, for the first time, now refuse to receive the votes of a State, it will be 
cr(^•lted into a precedent, and that in the lifetime of some of those who 
now hear me, for the manufacture of Presidents by tliis House. The 
wisest men may make constitutions on paper, as they please. What, 
Mr. R. asked, was the theory of this Constitution \ It is, that this 
House, except upon a certain contingency, has nothing at all to do with 
the appointment of President and Vice-President of the United States, 
and when it does act, must act by States, and by States only can it act on 
this subject, unless it transcend the limits of the Constitution. What, he 
asked, was to be the practice of the Constitution, as now proposed? 
That an informal meeting of this and the other House is to usiirp the 
initiative, the nominative power, with regard to the two first officers of the 



MONROE. 219 

government; that they are to wrest from the people of the United 
States their indubitable right of telling us whom they wish to exercise 
the functions of the government, in despite and contempt of their 
decision. Is there to be no limit to the }X)wcr of Congress ? No mound 
or barrier to stay their usurpation ? Why were the electoral bodies 
established? The Constitution has wisely provided that they shall 
assemble, each by itself, and not in one great assembly. By this means, 
assuredly, that system of intrigue which was matured into a science, or 
rather into an art here, was guarded against. But Mr. R. ventured to say, 
that the electoral college of this much despised Missouri, acting con- 
formably to law, and to the genius and nature of o-ur institutions, if it 
were composed of but one man, was as independent of this House as this 
House was of it. If, however, said he, per fas aut iiefas, the point is to 
be carried ; if the tocsin is to be sounded ; if the troops are to be rallied, 
and Missouri is to be expelled with scorn from our august presence — 
how august, Mr. Speaker, I leave it for you to decide — there are those 
who will be willing to take her to their arms. And in point of mere 
expediency, he would ask of gentlemen — he put the suggestion in 
that shape, because he believed they were now doing nothing but riveting 
those ties by which Missouri would, he trusted, forever be bound to that 
section of the country by which, with whatever reason, her rights have 
been supported on this floor ? I do look with a sentiment I cannot 
express, said Mr. R. — I look with a sentiment of pity — and that has 
been said to be nearly allied to love, as I know it to be allied to a very 
different emotion — I look with pity on those who believe that, by their 
feeble eflbrts in this House, — governed by forms and technicalities, 
your sergeant at arms and committees of attendance, and mummeries 
such as belong to other countries where I have never travelled, and 
trust in God I never shall, — they can stop the growth of the rising 
Empire in the West. — Let gentlemen lay a resolution on the table, let it 
be engrossed in a fair hand, and do you, Mr. Speaker, sign it, that the 
waves of the Mississippi shall not seek the ocean, and then send your 
sergeant at arms to carry it into execution ; and see whether you can 
enforce it with all the force, physical or moral, under your control. 
Mr. R. concluded by expressing his hope that the gentleman from 
Maryland would withdraw his motion for indefinite postponement. 

Mr. Archer replied to Mr. Randolph, who rose again in his turn to 
explain. 

Mr. Randolph said, it was highly probable that the few remarks which 
he had made might give rise to misapprehensions, in the minds of other 
gentlemen, as they had done in the mind of his colleague. — He therefore 
wished to explain. His position, he said, was misunderstood. It had 
been said, and pertinently said, that Missouri might be admitted into the 
Union in more ways than one. His position, then, was, that this is the 
first instance in which Missouri has knocked at the door and demanded 
her rights. It is now for us, said Mr. R., by permitting her to come in, 
or rather by refraining from extruding her from this hall, to de- 
termine whether she shall now be one of our commonwealth, or, as 
tlie fashion is to call it, of our empire. Mr. R. said, he tad no 



220 MONROE. 

doubt that Congress might drive Missouri into the wilderness, like 
another son of Hagar. If we do, said he, we drive her at our own peril. 
If either of the worthy Senators and Representatives from Missouri, whose 
long forbearance had excited surprise in no man's breast more than in 
that of Mr. R. — he did not mean to blame them for pursuing the counsel 
of cooler heads than his — had presented themselves here, would you 
(addressing the speaker) have felt yourself bound to exclude them from 
the communion with more than papal power — not only from the cup of 
wine, but from the bread of life itself? Let me tell my friend before me, 
(Mr. Archer,) we have not the power which he seems to think we pos- 
sess ; and, if this be a cassus ojnisstis in the Constitution, I want to 
know where we acquire the power to supply the defect. You may keep 
Missouri out of the Union by violence, but here the issue is joined. 
She comes forward in the person of Presidential and Vice-Presidential 
Electors, instead of that of her Representative ; and she was thus pre- 
sented in a shape as unquestionable as that of New York, Pennsylvaiaa, 
Massachusetts, or the proudest and oldest State in the Union. She 
comes forward by her attorneys, her electors. Will you deny them 
admittance ? Will you thrust her electors, and hers only from this hall ? 
Mr. R. said, his friend had not given to this subject the sort of considera- 
tion which he knew him to be capable of giving it. I made no objection, 
said Mr. R., to the votes of New Hampshire, Maine, or Vermont : I 
have as good a right to object to the votes of New Hampshire, as the 
gentleman from New Hampshire has to object to the votes of Missouri. 
Who made thou, Cain, thy brother's keeper ? Who put Missouri into 
custody of the honorable gentleman of New Hampshire? The electors of 
Missouri are as mnch. homines probi et iegales as the electors of New 
Hampshire. This, Mr. R. said, was no skirmish, as it had been called. 
This Vv'as the battle, when Greek meets Greek ; it was a conflict not to be 
decided between the phalanx and the legion, whether the impenetrability 
of the one or the activity of the other shall prevail. Let us buckle on our 
armor, said Mr. R., letus put aside all this flummery, these metaphysicat- 
distinctions, these legal technicalities, these special pleadings, this dry 
minuteness, this vmprofitable drawing of distinctions without difference : 
let us say now, as we have said on another occasion, we will assert, 
maintain, and vindicate our rights, or put to every hazard what you 
pretend to hold in such high estimation. Mr. R. said, he recollected 
perfectly well, in the celebrated election of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron 
Burr — they live, said he, illustrious examples of the merits of their 
respective partisans — what were we then told ? Why, that we must 
withdraw our opposition, or there would be no election; that a dissolu- 
tion of the Union impended ; that volcanoes began to play ; that earth- 
quakes yawned beneath us — and, recollect, Sir, we had a President in 
the chair who had a majority in this House, small as it was. He 
treated the idea of giving way with derision and scorn : we said, 
we will not give way, and you must take the consequences : we 
appealed, said Mr. R., to the good sense of the nation — and I do now 
appeal to this nation, said he, whether this pretended sympathy for the 
rights of free negroes and mulattoes is to supersede the rights of the free 



MONROE. 221 

white citizens, of ten times their whole number. They gave way, Sir, 
said Mr. R. — The sheep is the most timid and helpless of all animals : it 
retreats before any attack is offered to it. The President of the United 
States, Mr. R. said, possesses great powers and highly responsible 
functions, and should be looked up to with veneration and deference, 
because he is a chief magistrate of a people, legally appointed by their 
suffrages. But a President of the United States, appointed by the 
exclusion of the votes of those who are the same flesh and blood as 
ourselves — for the people of Missouri are not natives of Missouri, with 
the exception of a few French and still fewer Spaniards — is no more 
the chief magistrate of this country, than that thing — that pageant, which 
the majorities of the two Houses proposed to set up just twenty years 
ago — a President made by law — no, by the form and color of law, 
against the principles of the Constitution, and in violation of the rights 
of the freemen of this country. Sir, said Mr. R., I would not give a 
button for him. On his personal account, and for his personal qualities, 
I might treat him with respect as an individual, but as Chief Magistrate 
of this country, he would be more odious to my judgment than one of 
the house of Stuart attempting to seat himself on the throne of England, 
in defiance of the laws of succession and of the opinion of the people. 

The President of the Senate then proposed that the Senate should 
retire, and to this proposition the members of the Senate acceded. Mr. 
Randolph in the meanwhile speaking. The Senate then withdrew, and 
Mr. Randolph submitted the following resolutions : 

1. Resolved, That the electoral votes of the State of Missouri have 
this day been counted, and do constitute part of the majority of two 
hundred and thirty-one votes given for President, and of two hundred 
and eighteen votes given for Vice-President. 

. 2. Resolved, That the whole number of electors appointed, and of 
votes given for President and Vice-President, have not been announced 
oy the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
agreeable to the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and 
that therefore the proceeding has been irregular and illegal. 

A motion was then made to adjourn, which was carried by yeas and 
nays. 

On the twenty-sixth of February, Mr. Clay, from the joint committee 
appointed on the Missouri subject, reported the following resolution. 

Resolved, That Missouri shall be admitted into this Union on an 
equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever, upon the 
fundamental condition, that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section 
of the third article of the Constitution submitted on the part of said 
State to Congress, shall never be construed to authorize the passage of 
any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which 
any citizen of either of the States in this Union shall be excluded from 
the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such 
citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the United States : Provided, 
that the Legislature of the said State, by a solemn public act, shall 
declare the assent of the said State, to the said fundamental condition, and 
shall transmit to the President of the United States, on or before the 



222 MONROE. 

fourth Monday in November next, an authentic copy of the said act ; 
upon the receipt whereof the President, by proclamation, shall announce 
the fact : whereupon, and without any further proceeding on the part 
of Congress, the admission of the said State into this Union shall be 
considered as complete. 

Mr. Clay briefly explained the views of the committee, and the con- 
siderations which induced them to report the resolution. He considered 
this resolution as being the same in effect as that which had been 
previously reported by the former committee of thirteen members ; and 
stated that the committee on the part of the Senate was unanimous, and 
that on the part of the House nearly so, in favor of this resolution. 

Mr. Adams, of Massachusetts, delivered his objections to the resolution, 
on the ground of the defect of power in the Congress of the United 
States, to authorize or require the Legislature of a State once admitted 
into the Union, to do the act proposed by this resolution to be demanded 
of the Legislature of Missouri. 

Mr. Allen, of Massachusetts, delivered his sentiments, with much ear- 
nestness, and pretty much at large, in opposition to the resolution, on the 
ground as well of its terms, as of hostility to the toleration of slavery in 
any shape, or under any pretence, by the legislation of Congress ; and 
concluded by moving to amend the resolution by striking out the word 
cUizcn, wherever it occurs in the resolution, as above printed, and to 
insert in lieu thereof " free negro or mulatto.". 

At length the final question was taken, and decided in the affirmative, 
by a vote of eighty-seven to eighty-one. So the resolution was passed, 
and ordered to be sent to the Senate for concurrence ; here it received its 
last reading and was pased on the twenty-eighth. 

On the twenty-second of February, a proclamation was issued by the 
President, promulgating the treaty which had been made Avith Spain, 
and its final ratifications by the United States and his Catholic Majesty. 
Two measures of great public interest and importance were thus at about 
the same period brought to a felicitous termination. The session of 
Congress, though it had been stormy in its progress, terminated in good 
order and perfect harmony. 

On the fifth of March, Mr. Monroe took the oath to support the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and was again inaugurated as President. 
Ou this occasion he made an address to his fellow citizens at large, and 
laid before them a general view of the policy which the government 
intended to pursue. He very properly availed himself of his re-election, 
to consider it as the public approbation of his conduct in the preceding 
term. After a brief notice of measures for fortification and defence, 
which had been rendered necessary by the events of the last war, the 
President took a cursory review of our foreign relations, and the state of 
the national revenue. The address concludes with tiie following para- 
graphs : 

" The care of the Indian tribes within our limits has long been an 
essential part of our system, but, unfortunately, it has not been executed 
in a manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it. We have 
treated them as independent nations, without their having any substan- 



MONROE. 223 

tial pretension to that rank. The distinction has flattered their pride, 
retarded their improvement, and, in many instances, paved the way to 
their destruction. The progress of our settlements westward, sup- 
ported as they are by a dense population, has constantly driven them 
back with almost the total sacrifice of the lands which they have been 
compelled to abandon. They have claims on the magnanimity, and, I 
may add, on the justice of this nation, which we must all feel. We 
should become their real benefactors, we should perform the office of 
their Great Father, the endearing title which they emphatically give to 
the Chief Magistrate of our Union. Their sovereignty over vast territo- 
ries should cease, in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured to 
each individual, and his posterity in competent portions ; and, for the 
territory thus ceded by each tribe, some reasonable equivalent should be 
granted, to be vested in permanent funds for the support of civil go- 
vernment over them, and for the education of their children, for their 
instruction in the arts of husbandry, and to provide sustenance for them 
until they could provide it for themselves. My earnest hope is, that 
Congress will digest some plan, founded on these principles, with such 
improvements as their wisdom may suggest, and carry it into effect an 
soon as it may be practicable. 

" Europe is again unsettled, and the prospect of war increasing. 
Should the flame light up, in any quarter, how far it may extend, it is 
impossible to foresee. It is our peculiar felicity to be altogether uncon- 
nected with the causes Avhich produce this menacing aspect elsewhere. 
With every power we are in perfect amity, and it is our interest to remain 
so, if it be practicable on just conditions. I see no reasonable cause to 
apprehend variance with any power, unless it proceed from a violation of 
our maritime rights. In these contests, should they occur, and to what- 
ever extent they may be carried, we shall be neutral ; but, as a neutral 
power, we have rights which it is our duty to maintain. For light injm'ies 
it will be incumbent on us to seek redress in a spirit of amity, in full 
confidence that, injuring none, none would knowingly injure us. For 
more imminent dangers we should be prepared, and it should always be 
recollected that such preparation, adapted to the circumstances, and sanc- 
tioned by the judgment and wishes of our constituents, cannot f;iil to have 
a good effect of averting dangers of every kind. We should recollect, 
also, that the season of peace is best adapted to ttiese preparations. 

" If we turn our attention, fellow citizens, more immediately to the 
internal concerns of our country, and more especially to those on which 
its future Avelfare depends, Ave have every reason to anticipate the hap- 
piest results. It is now rather more than forty-four years since we 
declared our independence, and thirty-seven since it was acknowledged. 
The talents and virtues which were displayed in that great struggle were 
a sure presage of all that has since followed. A people who Avere able 
to surmount, in their infant state, such great perils, would be more com- 
petent, as they rose into manhood, to repel any which they might meet 
in their progress. Their physical strength would be more adequate to 
foreign danger, and the practice of self-government, aided by the light of 
experience, could not fail to produce an effect, equally salutary, on all 



2^ MONROE. 

those questions connected Avith the internal organization. These favora- 
ble anticipations have been realized. In our whole system, national and 
state, we have shunned all the defects which unceasingly preyed on the 
vitals and destroyed the ancient republics. In them there were distinct 
orders, a nobility and a people, or the people governed in one assembly. 
Thus, in the one instance, there was a perpetual conflict between the orders 
in society for the ascendancy, in which the victory of either terminated 
in the overthrow of the government, and the ruin of the state. In the 
other, in which the people governed in a body, and whose dominions sel- 
dom exceeded the dimensions of a county in one of our States, a tumul- 
tuous and disorderly movement permitted only a transitory existence. In 
this great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, 
by a peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is 
transferred from them without impairing, in the slightest degree, their 
sovereignty, to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by 
themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the purposes of free, 
enlightened, and efficient government. The whole system is elective, 
the complete sovereignty being in the people, and every officer, in every 
department, deriving his authority from, and being responsible to them, 
for his conduct," 

On the 3d of December, Congress again assembled, and the Honorable 
Philip P. Barbour was elected Speaker of the House. On the 5th, the 
President transmitted to both Houses of Congress the annual message. 
It was quite long and interesting, presenting a favorable view of the 
aflfairs of the nation, as respected its commerce, manufactures, and revenue. 
It stated that, in pursuance of the treaty with Spain, possession of East 
and West Florida had been given to the United States, but that the 
officers charged with that service had omitted, in contravention of the 
orders of their sovereigns, the delivery of the archives and documents 
relative to the sovereignty of those provinces. This omission had given 
rise to several disagreeable and painful incidents. The success of the 
South American colonies, during the previous year, was another topic of 
the message. The new government of Colombia had extended its terri- 
tories, and considerably augmented its strength ; and at Buenos Ayres, 
where civil dissension had sometime before prevailed, greater harmony 
and better order had been restored. Equal success had attended their 
efforts in the provinces on the Pacific. It was advised, as the true policy 
of the United States, to promote a settlement of this question with Spain 
based on the independence of the colonies. 

Manufactures receive particular attention in this message. " It cannot 
be doubted, that the more complete our internal resources, and the less 
dependent we are on foreign powers, for every national, as well as 
domestic purpose, the greater and more stable will be the public felicity. 
By the increase of domestic manufactures, will the demand for the rude 
materials at home be increased, and thus will the dependence of the 
several parts of our Union on each other, and the strength of the Union 
itself, be proportionably augmented. In this process, which is very 
desirable, and inevitable under the existing duties, the resources which 
obviously present themselves to supply a deficiency in the revenue, should 



MONROE. 225 

it occur, are tbe interests which may derive the principal benefit from the 
change. If domestic manufactures are raised by duties on foreign, the 
deficiency in the fund necessary for public purposes should be supplied 
by duties on the former. At the last session, it seemed doubtful, whether 
the revenue derived from the present sources would be adequate to all 
the great purposes of our Union, including the construction of our forti- 
fications, the augmentation of our navy, and the protection of our 
commerce against the dangers to which it is exposed. Had the deficiency 
been such as to subject us to the necessity, either to abandon those 
measures of defence, or to resort to other means for adequate funds, the 
course presented to the adoption of a virtuous and enlightened people 
appeared to be a plain one. It must be gratifying to all to know, that 
this necessity does not exist. Nothing, however, in contemplation of 
such important objects, which can be easily provided for, should be left 
to hazard. It is thought that the revenue may receive an augmentation 
from the existing sources, and in a manner to aid our manufactures, 
without hastening prematurely the result which has been suggested. It 
is believed that a moderate additional duty on certain articles would have 
that effect, without being liable to any serious objection." 

On the twenty-first of January, on motion of Mr. Sergeant, chairman 
of the committee on the judiciary, the House went into a committee of 
the whole, Mr. Taylor in the chair, on the bill for establishing an '.niform 
system of bankruptcy. The first section of the bill being under conside- 
ration, Mr. Sergeant rose and occupied the floor in favor of the bill, till 
the hour of adjournment, when the committee rose and the House ad- 
journed. On the following day, Mr. Sergeant resumed and closed his 
speech on this important subject. Mr. Randolph utterly denied the power 
of Congress, to pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts, whenever 
made. Mr. Smyth, of Virginia, took a prominent stand in opposition to 
the bill ; and Mr. Sergeant continued to the close the chief speaker in 
its defence. The bill was finally rejected in the House by a vote of 
ninety-nine to seventy-two. 

On the twenty-sixth of February, Mr. Lloyd, of Maryland, rose in the 
Senate, and addressed the chair as follows : 

" Mr. President : It has become my painful duty to announce to the 
Senate the melancholy fact, that my much esteemed and distinguished 
colleague is no more. An attempt to excite the sympathies of the Senate 
for a loss so great and so afflicting — a loss we must all sincerely deplore 
— would betray a suspicion of their sensibility. This chamber. Sir, 
has been one of the fields of his fame. You have seen him in his 
strength. You have seen him the admiration of the Senate ; the pride 
of his native State ; the ornament of his country. He is now no more. 
But, for his friends and relatives, there is consolation beyond the grave. 
I humbly and firmly trust, that he now reposes on the bosom of his God." 

Sundry resolves were then entered into, for appointing a committee 

for superintending the funeral, and for the Senate's attending the same, 

and wearing a mourning badge. Similar proceedings also took place in 

the House ; in which body, the preceding day, Mr. Randolph had moved 

29 



226 MONROE. 

and carried an adjournment, on the premature report of Mr. Pinckney's 
death; on which occasion he made the following observations: 

^Mr. Kandolph rose, he said, to announce to the House a fact, which, 
he hoped, would put an end, at least for this day, to all further jar or 
collision, here or elsewhere, among the members of this body. Yes, for 
this one day, at least, said he, let us say, as our first mother said to our 
first father, 

" While yet we live, scarce one short hour, perhaps, 
Between us two let there be peace." 

" I rise to announce to the House, the not unlooked for death of a man 
who held the first place in the public estimation, in the first profession in 
that estimation, in this or in any other country. We have been talking of 
General Jackson, and a greater than him is not here, but gone forever ! 
I allude, Sir, to the boast of Maryland, and the pride of the United States 
— ^the pride of all of us — but particularly the pride and ornament of the 
profession of which you, Mr. Speaker, are a member, and an eminent 
one. He was a man with whom I lived, when a member of this House, 
and a new one too ; and ever since he left it for the other — I speaJc it 
with pride — in habits, not merely negatively friendly, but of kindness and 
cordiality. The last time that I saw him was on Saturday — the last 
Saturday but one — in the pride of life," and full possession and vigor of 
all his faculties, in that lobby. He is now gone to his account, (for as 
the tree falls, so it must lie,) where we must all go, where I must A^ery 
soon go, and by the same road too, the course of nature — and where all 
of us, put off the evil day as long as we may, must also soon go. For 
what is the past but as a span, and which of xis can look forward to as 
many years as Ave have lived ? The last act of intercourse between us 
was an act, the recollection of which I would not be without, for all the 
offices that all the men of the United States have filled, or ever shall fill. 
He had, indeed, his faults — foibles, I should rather say ; and. Sir, who is 
without them ? Let such, and such only, cast the first stone. And these 
foiblfes, faults if you will, which every body could see, because every 
body is clear sighted in regard to the faults and foibles of others — he, I 
have no doubt, would have been the first to acknowledge, on a proper 
representation of them. 

" Every thing now is hidden to us — not, God forbid! that utter dark- 
ness rests upon the grave, which, hideous as it is, is lighted, cheered, and 
warmed by fire from heaven — not the impious fire fabled to be stolen from 
heaven by the heathen, but by the spirit of the living God, whom we all 
profess to worship, and whom I hope w^e shall spend the remainder of 
this day in worshiping, not with mouth honor, but in our hearts ; in spirit 
and in truth, that it may not be said of us, also, ' This people draweth 
nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lip?, but their 
heart is far from me.' Yes, it is just so. He is gone. I will n.H say 
that our loss is irreparable ; because such a man as has existed may exist 
again. There has been a Homer ; there has been a Shakspeare ; there 
has been a Milton ; there has been a Newton. There may then be another 
Piuckney ; but there is now none. And it was to announce tliis event 



MONROE. 227 

I have risen. I am, said Mr. Randolph, almost inclined to believe in 
presentimenis. I have been all along as well assured of the fatal termi- 
nation of that disease with which he was affected, as I am now. And 
I have dragged my weary limbs before sunrise to the door of his sick 
chamber, (for I would not intrude upon the sacred sorrows of his family,) 
almost every morning since his illness. From the first I had almost no 
hope. I move you. Sir, that this House do n6w adjourn." 

On the 8th of March, the President communicated to Congress a mes- 
sage, in which he recommended the recognition of South American 
independence. This message was referred to a committee, who reported 
unanimously in favor of the proposed measure, and introduced a resolve 
to appropriate a sum to enable the President to give due effect to such 
recognition. The Spanish Minister, on the publication of the message, 
immediately addressed a letter to Mr. Adams, the Secretary of State, in 
which he entered a solemn protest against this recognition of the govern- 
ments mentioned of the insurgent provinces of South America ; and declar- 
ed that it could in no way invalidate in the least the rights of Spain, to said 
provinces, or to employ every means in her power to reunite them to the 
rest of her dominions. To this letter the Secretary made a reply, in 
which he stated that the recognition by the President was not intended to 
invalidate any right of Spain, or to affect the employment of any means 
Avhich she might be disposed to use for the purpose of reuniting those 
provinces to the rest of her dominions. It was merely the acknowledg- 
ment of existing facts, with the view to the regular establishment, with 
these newly formed nations, of those political and commercial relations 
which it is the moral obligation of civilized and Christian nations to 
entertain reciprocally with one another. 

On the 2d of December, Congress again assembled, Mr. Gaillard 
taking the chair of the Senate, and Mr. Barbour that of the House. 
The message of the President contained a satisfactory exposition of the 
affairs of the confederacy, both at home and abroad. The view of our 
national finances was very favorable. On the subjects of internal im- 
provement, and manufactures, the President observed : 

" Believing that a competent power to adopt and execute a system of 
internal improvement has not been granted to Congress, but that such a 
power, confined to great national purposes and with proper limitations, 
would be productive of eminent advantage to our Union, I have thought 
it advisable that an amendment of the Constitution, to that effect, should 
be recommended to the several States. A bill which assumed the right 
to adopt and execute such a system having been presented for my signa- 
ture, at the last session, I was compelled, from the view which I had 
taken of the powers of the General Government, to negative it, on which, 
occasion I thought it proper to communicate the sentiments which I had 
formed, on mature consideration, on the whole subject. To that commu- 
nication, in all the views in which the great interest to which it relates, 
may be supposed to merit your attention, I have now to refer. Should 
Congress, however, deem it improper to recommend such an amendment, 
they have, according to my judgment, the right to keep the road in 
repair, by providing for the superintendence of it, and appropriating the 



228 MONROE. 

money necessary for repairs. Surely, if they had the right to appropriate, 
money to make the road, they have a right to appropriate it to preserve 
the road from ruin. From the exercise of this power no danger is to be 
apprehended. Under our happy system, the people are the sole and 
exclusive fountain of power. Each government originates from them, 
and to them alone, each to its proper constituents, are they respectively 
and solely responsible, for the faithful discharge of their duties, within 
their constitutional limits. And that the people wdll confine their public 
agents, of every station, to the strict line of their constitutional duties, 
there is no cause to doubt. Having, however, communicated my senti- 
ments to Congress, at the last session, fully, in the document to which I 
have referred, respecting the right of appropriation, as distinct from the 
right of jurisdiction and sovereignty over the territory in question, I deem 
it improper to enlarge on the subject here. 

" From the best information that I have been able to obtain, it appears 
that our manufactures, though depressed immediately after the peace, 
have considerably increased, and are still increasing, under the encour- 
agement given them by the tariff of 1816, and by subsequent laws. 
Satisfied, I am, whatever may be the abstract doctrine in favor of unre- 
stricted commerce, provided all nations would concur in it, and it was not 
liable to be interrupted by war, which has never occurred, and cannot be 
expected, that there are other strong reasons applicable to our situation, 
and relations with other countries, which impose on us the obligation to 
cherish and sustain our manufactures. Satisfied, however, I likewise 
am, that the intere.st of every part of our Union, even of those most 
benefited by manufactures, requires that this subject should be touched 
with the gTeatest caution, and a critical knowledge of the effect to be 
produced by the slightest change. On full consideration of the subject, 
in all its relations, I am persuaded, that a further augmentation may now 
be made of the duties on certain foreign articles, in favor of our own, and 
without affecting injuriously any other interest. For more precise details, 
T refer you to the communications which were made to Congress during 
the last session." 

On the recognition of South American independence, the message 
continued : 

" A strong hope was entertained that peace would, ere this, have been 
concluded between Spain and the Independent Governments south of the 
United States in this hemisphere. Long experience having evinced the 
competency of those governments to maintain the independence which 
they had declared, it was presumed that the considerations which induced 
their recognition by the United States, would have had equal weight with 
other powers, and that Spain herself, yielding to those magnanimous 
feelings of which her history furnishes so many examples, would have 
terminated, on that basis, a controversy so unavailing, and at the same 
time, so destructive. We still cherish the hope, that this result will not 
long be postponed. 

" Sustaining our neutral position, and allowing to each party, while 
the war continues, equal rights, it is incumbent on the United States to 
claim of each, with equal rigor, the faithful observance of our rights, 



MONROE. 229 

according to the well known law of nations. From each, therefore, a 
like co-operation is expected in the suppression of the piratical practice 
which has grown out of this war, and of blockades of extensive coasts on 
both seas, which, considering the small force employed to sustain them, 
have not the slightest foundation to rest on." 

The first Comptroller of the Treasury transmitted to the House a list 
of balances due more than three years. The House in committee took 
up the bill reported last session on the disbursement of public moneys. 
Mr. Bassett said in remarking on this subject, that it was a fact stated in 
a message from the President, that at one time accounts for one hundred 
millions of dollars, advanced for different objects, remained unsettled ; 
and mentioned large losses to the public by defalcations of individuals. 
The bill was ordered to be printed, and the committee rose. Mr. Cannon 
introduced some resolutions respecting improving the militia for the 
national defence. Mr. Condict, of New Jersey, made a motion for 
instructing the naval committee to inquire, and report immediately, what 
measures are necessary effectually to extirpate the West India pirates, 
and to punish those who aid and abet them. He took notice of the very 
slight reference which the President had made to this subject in his 
message, " being all comprised in a short paragraph," which he read. 
He hoped to see a competent force immediately provided to ferret out 
these freebooters, and drag them to a condign and speedy punishment — 
not to have them brought here, and tried by a jury, under all the delays 
incident to our courts ; but, as they had placed themselves beyond the 
laws of civil society, had set at defiance the laws of God and man, the 
most effectual restraint upon their barbarities would be to exhibit to them 
the spectacle of a few dozen of their leaders suspended by halters from 
the yard-arms of our public ships. About this time the Speaker presented 
a message from the President upon the subject of piracies, recommending 
the providing a competent force to repress their enormities. 

The proceedings of this session of Congress excited but little interest 
tind attention in the nation at large. There were no topics of engrossing 
importance. The case of the mutilated documents, as it was called, 
occupied the time of the House for some days. This was a case in 
which certain documents which had been given to Messrs. Gales & Sea- 
ton to be printed, were printed with the omission of certain sentences. 
Public attention was first called to this omission by an article in the 
Washington Eepublican, and the charge there made was in substance as 
follows : That in printing the documents accompanying the report of the 
Secretary of the Treasury, of the 14th February, 1S22, in answer to a 
resolution of the House of Representatives, calling upon him to exhibit 
a statement of his transactions with all those banks which had been 
made by him the depositories of public moneys receivc-i from the sales of 
public lands, that they had suppressed and totally omitted, in the printed 
document which they furnished the House, parts of those documents 
implicating Mr. Crawford the most strongly. From the investigations 
pursued on this subject, it appeared that neither Mr. Gales nor Mr. Seaton 
had any knowledge of, or participation in, the suppressions in question ; 
and that there was no evidence tending in the slightest degree to show 



230 MONROE. 

that the suppressions were caused by the influence of the Secretary of 
the Treasury, or with his knowledge. They were marked by one of the 
chief clerks of the Department of the Treasury, for the purpose of calling 
the attention of the Secretary to them, and omitted by the direction of 
the same clerk. 

On the 1st of December, being the day established by the Constitution, 
the eighteenth Congress commenced its first session. In his message, 
at the opening of the session, the President spoke in animated terms of 
the prosperous condition of the country, and of the amicable state of our 
relations with foreign countries. 

The message represented the public finances to be even more pro^e- 
rous than had been anticipated ; that the state of the army, in its organi- 
zation and discipline, had been gradually improving for several years, 
and had attained a high degree of perfection ; that the proposed fortifi- 
cations of the country were rapidly progressing to a slate of completion, 
and that the military academy at West Point had already attained a 
high degree of perfection, botlx in its discipline and instruction. In 
relation to the efforts of the executive to stop the depredations of pirates 
on the national commerce, the President stated, that, in the West 
Indies, and the Gulf of Mexico, the naval force had been augmented, 
according to the provisions of Congress. " This armament," said he, 
" has been eminently successful in the accomplishment of its object. 
The piracies, by which our conmierce in the neighborhood of the island 
of Cuba had been aillicted, liave been repressed, and the confidence of 
the merchants in a great measure restored." 

In allusion to the struggle of the Greeks for liberty, the message 
contained the following language — language to which every American 
would cordially subscribe : — " A strong hope has been long entertained, 
founded on the heroic struggle of the Greeks, that they would succeed 
in their contest, and resume their equal station among the nations of the 
earth. It is believed that the whole civilized world takes a deep interest 
in their welfare. Although no power has declared in their favor, yet 
noiie, according to our information, has taken part against them. Their 
cause and their name have protected them from dangers, which might, 
ere this, have overwhelmed any other people. The ordinary calcula- 
tions of interest, and of acquisition, with a view to aggrandizement, 
which mingle so much in the transactions of nations, seem to have had 
no effect in regard to them. From the facts which have come to our 
knowledge, there is good cause to believe that their enemy has lost, 
forever, all dominion over them — that Greece will again become an 
independent nation. That she may obtain that rank, is the object of our 
most ardent wishes." 

On the existing state of the country, tlie President held the following 
strong and eloquent language : " If we compare the present condition of 
our Union with its actual state at the close of our revolution, the history 
of the world furnishes no example of a progress in improvement, in all 
the important circumstances which constitute the happiness of a nation, 
which bears any resemblance to it. At the first epoch, our population 
did not exceed tliree millions. By the last census ii amounted to about 



MONROE. 281 

ten millions, and, what is more extraordinary, it is almost altogcthet 
native; for the emigration from other countries has been inconsiderable. 
At the first epoch, half the territory within our acknowledged limits was 
uninhabited and a wilderness. Since then new territory has been 
acquired, of vast extent, comprising within it many rivers, particularly 
the Mississippi, the navigation of which to the ocean was of the highest 
importance to the original States. Over this territory our population 
has expanded in every direction, and new States have been established, 
almost equal in number to those which formed the first bond of our 
Union. This expansion of our population and accession of new States 
to our Union, have had the happiest effect on all its higher interests. 
That it has eminently augmented our resources, and added to our 
strength and respectability, as a power, is admitted by all. But it is 
not in these important circumstances only, that this happy effect is felt. 
It is manifest, that, by enlarging the basis of our system, and increasing 
the number of States, the system itself has been greatly strengthened in 
both its branches. Consolidation and disunion have thereby been rendered 
equally impracticable. Each government, confiding in its own strength, 
has less to apprehend from the other ; and, in consequence, each enjoy- 
ing a greater freedom of action, is rendered more efficient for all the 
purposes for which it was instituted." 

In his message to Congress, at the opening of the session, the Presi- 
dent, having alluded to the struggle of the Greeks for liberty, and having 
expressed, as the organ of public sentiment, the sympathy of the nation 
in their behalf, a resolution was presented to the House of Representa- 
tives, by a member, providing for the expenses incident to the appoint- 
ment of an agent, or commissioner to Greece, whenever the President 
should deem such appointment expedient. Although Congress did not 
deem it expedient to adopt the resolution, it being indefinitely postponed, 
it served to call forth the warmest expressions of regard, on the floor of 
Congress, for that oppressed people, and to elicit the attachment of the 
country to the principles of rational liberty. 

On the 27th of May, 1824, the eighteenth Congress closed its first 
session. Among the most important bills which were passed was one 
for abolishing imprisonment for debt ; and a second establishing a tarift 
of duties on imports into the country. 

Each of these bills caused much debate in the national legislature, 
and excited no small solicitude among those classes of citizens, whose 
interests were likely to be most affected by them. The bill for abolish- 
ing imprisonment for debt was necessarily qualified and guarded, giving 
no immunity to fraud, and containing the requisite checks to shield its 
benefits from abuse. The bill for a revision of the tariff occupied the 
House of Representatives for ten weeks, and was at length passed only 
by a majority of five. On the occasion of its final decision, only two 
members, out of two hundred and thirteen, were absent. 

In the course of the summer an event occurred, which caused the 
highest sensations of joy throughout the Union ; this was the arrival of 
the Marquis de La Fayette, the friend and ally of the Americans during 
the former war with Great Britain, and who eminently contributed, by 



232 MONROE. 

his fortune, influence, skill, and bravery, to achieve the glorious objects 
of their revolutionary struggle. 

The second session of the eighteenth Congress began on the 6th of 
December, 1824; on which occasion, the President represented the 
country to be highly prosperous and happy, both in respect to its internal 
condition and foreign relations. 

"Our relations," said he, "with foreign powers are of a friendly- 
character, although certain interesting differences remain unsettled 
Our revenvTC, under the mild system of impost and tonnage, continues 
to be adequate to all the purposes of government. Our agriculture, 
commerce, manufactures, and navigation flourish. Our fortifications are 
advancing, in a degree authorized by existing appropriations, to maturity, 
and due progress is made in the augmentation of the navy to the limit 
prescribed by law." 

This session of Congress closed on the 3d of March, 1825, being limited 
by the Constitution to that period. Among the most interesting subjects 
which occupied its attention during the session, were the occupation of 
the Oregon on the north-west coast, and the suppression of piracy. The 
bill respecting the former, however, was lost in the Senate, being 
indefinitely laid on the table ; while that respecting piracy passed ; 
which, however, does little more than to authorize the building of ten 
additional ships of war. 

The bill authorizing the occupation of the Oregon was passed by the 
House of Representatives, but had previously been so amended as to 
provide only for a military occupation of the mouth of the river. This 
amendment was adopted, for the purpose of avoiding a violation of the 
treaty with Great Britain, which provides that the boundary line on that 
frontier shall remain unsettled ten years. 

On the subject of piracy, the President, in a message to the Senate, 
suggested three expedients ; one, by the pursuit of the offenders to the 
settled as well as unsettled parts of the island from whence they 
issue ; another, by reprisal on the inhabitants ; and a third, by a 
blockade of the ports of those islands. These suggestions gave rise to a 
bill in the Senate, which embraced the several expedients proposed in 
the message, and which, for some weeks, was a prominent topic of 
debate. The opposers of the bill contended that it introduces a new 
principle into the rights of nations, and that a resort to the measure pro- 
posed by it would be in effect a declaration of Avar with Spain. This 
objection was anticipated by the President, and obviated by him, on the 
ground that the Spanish authorities are utterly incapable of suppressing 
the practice in question. The discussion of the subject led to a dis- 
closure of facts, which, in respect to its atrocities and the numbers con- 
cerned in it, exceeded even conjecture, and which forced conviction 
upon all, that something, and something efficient, must speedily be done. 

The administration of Mr. Monroe closed on the" 3d of March. 
During his presidency the country enjoyed a uniform state of peace and 
prosperity. By his prudent management of the national affairs, both 
foreign and domestic, he eminently contributed to the honor and bap- 



MONROE. 233 

piness of millions, and retired from office, enjoying the respect, and 
affection, and gratitude of all. 

On the 3d of March, 1825, Mr. Monroe retired to his residence in 
Loudon county, Virginia. Subsequent to that period, he discharged the 
ordinary judicial functions of a magistrate of the county, and of curator 
of the tjniversity of Virginia. In the winter of 1829 and '30, he served 
as a member of the Convention called to revise the Constitution of that 
Commonwealth ; and took an active part in their deliberations, over 
which he was unanimously chosen to preside. From this station he was, 
however, compelled, before the close of the labors of the Convention, by 
severe illness, to retire. The succeeding summer, he was, in the short 
compass of a week, visited by the bereavement of the beloved partner of 
his life, and of another near, affectionate, and respected relative. Soon 
after these deep and trying afflictions, he removed his residence to the 
city of New York ; where, surrounded by fdial solicitude and tenderness, 
the flickering lamp of life held its lingering flame, as if to await the day 
of the nation's birth and glory; when the soldier of the revolution, the 
statesman of the confederacy, the chosen chieftain of the constituted 
nation, sunk into the arms of slumber, to awake no more upon earth, and 
yielded his pure and gallant spirit to receive the sentence of his Maker. 

*' In the multitude of a great nation's public affairs," says Mr. J. Q. 
Adams, in his eulogy on the subject of this memoir, " there is no 
official act of their Chief Magistrate, however momentous, or however 
minute, but should be traceable to a dictate of duty, pointing to the wel- 
fare of the people. Such was the cardinal principle of Mr. Monroe. 
In his first address, upon his election to the Presidency, he had exposed 
the general principles by which his conduct, in the discharge of his great 
trust, would be regulated. In his second Inaugural Address, he suc- 
cinctly reviewed that portion of the career through which he had passed, 
fortunately sanctioned by public approbation ; and promised perseverance 
in it, to the close of his public service. And, in his last annual message 
to Congress, on the 7th of December, 1824, announcing his retirement 
from public life, after the close of that session of the Legislature, he 
reviewed the whole course of his administration, comparing it with the 
pledges which he had given at its commencement, and at its middle term, 
appealing to the judgment and consciousness of those whom he addressed, 
for its unity of principle as one consistent whole ; not exempt indeed, from 
the errors and infirmities incident to all human action, but characteristic 
of purposes always honest and sincere, of intentions always pure, of 
labors outlasting the daily circuit of the sun, and outwatching the vigils 
of the night — and what he said not, but a faithful witness is bound to 
record ; of a mind anxious and unwearied in the pursuit of truth and 
right ; patient of inquiry ; patient of contradiction ; courteous, even in 
the collision of sentiment ; sound in its ultimate judgments ; and firm in 
its final conclusions. 

" Such, my fellow citizens, was James Monroe. Such was the man, 

who presents the only example of one whose public life commenced with 

the War of Independence, and is identified with all the important events 

of your history from that day forth for a full half century. And now, 

30 



234 MONROE. 

what is the purpose for which we have here assembled to do honor to 
his memory? Is it to scatter perishable flowers upon the yet unsodded 
grave of a public benefactor ? Is it to mingle tears of sjTnpathy and of 
consolation, with those of mourning and bereaved children ? Is it to do 
honor to ourselves, by manifesting a becoming sensibility, at the departure 
of one, who, by a long career of honor and of usefulness, has been to us all 
as a friend and brother? Or is it not rather to mark the memorable inci- 
dents of a life signalized by all tne properties which embody the precepts 
of virtue and the principles of wisdom ? Is it not to pause for a moment 
from the passions of our own bosoms, and the agitations of our own 
interests, to survey in its whole extent the long and little beaten path of 
the great and the good : to fix with intense inspection our own vision, and 
to point the ardent but unsettled gaze of our children upon that resplen- 
dent row of cresset lamps, fed with the purest vital air, which illuminate 
the path of the hero, the statesman and the sage. Have you a son of 
ardent feelings and ingenuous mind, docile to instruction, and panting 
for honorable distinction ? point him to the pallid cheek and agonizing 
form of James Monroe, at the opening blossom of life, weltering in his 
blood on the field of Trenton, for the cause of his country. Then turn 
his eye to the same form, seven years later, in health and vigor, still in 
the bloom of youth, but seated among the Conscript Fathers of the land, 
to receive entwined with all its laurels the sheathed and triumphant sword 
of Washington. Guide his eye along to the same object, investigating, 
by the midnight lamp, the laws of nature and nations, and unfolding 
them at once, with all the convictions of reason and all the persuasions 
of eloquence, to demonstrate the rights of his countrymen to the contested 
navigation of the Mississippi, in the hall of Congress. Follow him with 
this trace in his hand, through a long series of years, by laborious travels 
and intricate negociations, at unperial courts, and in the palaces of kings, 
winding his way amidst the ferocious and party-colored revolutions of 
France, and the lifeguard favorites and Camarillas of Spain. Then look 
at the map of United North America, as it was at the definitive peace of 
1783. Compare it with the map of that same empire as it is now ; limit- 
ed by the Sabine and the Pacific Ocean, and say, the change, more than 
of any other man, living or dead, was the work of James Monroe. See 
him pass successively from the hall of the Confederation Congress to the 
Legislative Assembly of his native commonwealth ; to their Convention 
which ratified tlie Constitution of the North American people ; to the 
Senate of the Union; to the chair of diplomatic intercourse with ultra 
revolutionary France ; back to the executive honors of his native State ; 
again to embassies of transcendent magnitude, to France, to Spain, to 
Britain ; restored once more to retirement and his country ; elevated 
again to the highest trust of his State ; transferred successively to the 
two pre-eminent Departments of Peace and War, in the National Gov- 
ernment ; and at the most momentous crisis burthened with the duties of 
both — and finally raised, first by the suffrages of a majority, and at last 
by the unanimous call of his countrymen to the Chief Magistracy of the 
Union. There behold him, for a term of eight years, strengthening his 
country for defence by a system of combined fortifications, military and 



MONROE 235 

naval, sustaining her rights, her dignity and honor abroad ; soothing 
her dissensions, and conciliating her acerbities at home ; controlling, by a 
firm though peaceful policy, the hostile spirit of the European Alliance 
against Republican Southern America ; extorting, by the mild compulsion 
of reason, the shores of the Pacific from the stipulated acknowledgment of 
Spain ; and leading back the Imperial Autocrat of the North, to his law- 
ful boundaries, from his hastily asserted dominion over the Southern 
Ocean. Thus strengthening and consolidating the federative edifice of 
his countrjj^'s union, till he was entitled to say, like Augustus Caesar, of 
his imperial city, that he had found her built of brick and left her con- 
structed of marble." 



JOHJN QUINCY ADAMS. 

*JoHN QuiNCY Adams is descended from a race of farmers, tradesmen, 
and mechanics. In 1630, his remote ancestor, Henry Adams, came to 
America, with seven sons, and estabhshed himself in this country. 
Thus early rooted in the soil, a warm attachment to the cause and the 
rights of America has been, from generation to generation, the birth- 
right of this family. 

The first of this name, who emerged from private life, and rose to 
conspicuous public stations, were Samuel Adams, the proscribed patriot 
of the Revolution, and John Adams, who was pronounced by his vene- 
rable copatriot, Thomas Jefferson, " The Colossus of Independence." 
These two distinguished benefactors of their country, were descen- 
dants of the same remote ancestor. Samuel Adams deceased without 
male issue ; John Quincy Adams is the son of his illustrious fellow 
laborer and relative. He was born in the year 1767, and was named 
for John Quincy, his great-grandfather, who bore a distinguished part in 
the councils of the province, at the commencement of the last century. 

The principles of American Independence and freedom were instilled 
into the mind of Mr. John Q. Adams, in the very dawn of his existence. 
Both of his revered parents had entered, with every power and faculty, 
into the cause of the country. When the father of Mr. Adams repaired 
to France as joint commissioner with Franklin and Lee, he was 
accompanied by his son John Quincy, then in his eleventh year. In this 
country he passed a year and a half with his father, and enjoyed the 
enviable privilege of the daily intercourse and parental attentions of 
Benjamin Franklin ; whose kind notice of the young was a peculiar 
trait in his character, and whose primitive simplicity of manners and 
methodical habits left a lasting impression on the mind of his youthful 
countryman. 

After a residence of about eighteen months in France, John Quincy 
Adams returned to America with his father, who came home to take part 
in the formation of the Constitution of his native State. After a 
sojourn of a few months at home, the voice of the country called on Mr. 
Adams' father again to repair to Europe as a commissioner for negociat- 
ing a treaty of peace and commerce with Great Britain, whenever she 
might be disposed to put an end to the war. 

He took his son with him. They sailed in a French frigate bound to 
Brest ; but the vessel having sprung a dangerous leak, was obliged to 
put in the nearest port, which proved to be Ferrol, in Spain. From that 

* For the early part of this memoir we have been indebted to a biograjthical sketch, 
published at the time of the presidential canvass, which terminated in the electioD 
of General Jackson. 



238 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

place Mr. Adams travelled by land to Paris, where he arrived in January 
1780, and when his son, J. Q. Adams, was put to school. In the month 
of July, of the same year, Mr. Adams repaired to Holland to negociate 
a loan in that country. His son accompanied him, and was placed first 
in the public school of the city of Amsterdam, and afterwards in the 
University of Leyden. In July, 1781, Mr. Francis Dana, (afterwards 
Chief Justice of the State of Massachusetts,) who had gone out with 
Mr. Adams, as Secretary of Legation, received, from the continental 
Congress, the commission of Minister to the Empress of Russia, and 
John Q. Adams was selected by Mr. Dana, as a private secretary of this 
mission. After spending fourteen months with Mr. Dana, he left him to 
return through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburgh, and Bremen, to Holland, 
where his father had been publicly received as Minister from the United 
States, and had concluded a commercial treaty with the republic of the 
Netherlands. He performed this journey during the winter of 1782 — 3, 
being sixteen years of age, without a companion. He reached the Hague 
in April, 1783, his father being at that time engagedr^it Paris in the nego- 
ciation of peace. From April to July his son remained at the Hague 
under the care of Mr. Dumas, a native of Switzerland, a zealous friend 
of America, who then filled the ofiice of an agent of the United States. 
The negociations for peace being suspended in July, Mr. Adams' father 
repaired on business to Amsterdam, and on his return to Paris he took his 
son with him. The definitive treaty of peace was signed in September, 
1783, from which time till May, 1785, he was chiefly with his father in 
England, Holland, and France. 

It was at that period, that he formed an acquaintance with Mr. Jeffer- 
son, then residing in France as American Minister. The intercourse of 
Mr. Jefferson with his former colleague, the father of Mr. Adams, was 
of an intimate and confidential kind, and led to a friendship for his son, 
which, formed in early life, scarcely suffered an interruption from subse- 
quent political dissensions, and revived with original strength during the 
last years of the life of this venerable statesman. 

Mr. Adams Avas, at the period last mentioned, about eighteen years of 
age. Born in the crisis of his country's fortunes, he had led a life of 
wandering and vicissitude, unusual at any age. His education, in every 
thing but the school of liberty, had been interrupted and irregular. He 
had seen much of the world — much of men — and had enjoyed but little 
leisure for books. Anxious to complete his education, and still more 
anxious to return to his native America, when his father was, in 1785, 
appointed Minister to the Court of St. James, his son, at that period of life 
when the pleasures and splendor of a city like London are most calcu- 
lated to fascinate and mislead, asked permission of his father to go back 
to his native shores. This he accordingly did. On his return to Ame- 
rica, he became a member of the ancient seat of learning at Cambridge, 
where, as early as 1743, Samuel Adams, in taking his degrees, had the 
proposition, " that the people have a just right of resistance, when 
oppressed by their rulers." 

In July, 1787, Mr. Adams left college and entered the ofiice of The- 
ophilus Parsons afterward Chief Justice of the State, as a student of 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 239 

law at Newburyport. On a visit of General Washington to that town, 
in 1789, Mr. Parsons, being chosen by his fellow citizens to be the 
medium of expressing their sentiments to the General, called upon his 
pupils each to prepare an address. This call was obeyed by Mr. Adams, 
and his address was delivered by Mr. Parsons. 

After completing his law studies at Newburyport, Mr. Adams removed 
to the capital of Massachusetts, with a view of employing himself in the 
practice of the profession. The business of a young lawyer is generally 
of inconsiderable amount ; and Mr. Adams employed the leisure afforded 
him by this circumstance, and by his industrious habits, in speculations 
upon the great political questions of the day. 

In April, 1793, on the first information that war between Great Britain 
and France had been declared, Mr. Adams published a short series of 
papers, the object of which was, to prove that the duty and interest of 
the United States required them to remain neutral in the contest. These 
papers were published before General Washington's proclamation of 
neutrality, and without any knowledge that such a proclamation would 
issue. The opinions they expressed were in opposition to the ideas gene- 
rally prevailing, that the treaty of alliance of 1778 obliged us to take 
part in the wars of France. But the proclamation of neutrality by 
General Washington, sanctioned by all his cabinet, with Mr. Jefferson at 
its head, was shortly made public, and confirmed the justice of the views 
which Mr. Adams had been, (it is believed,) the first to express before the 
public, on this new and difficult topic of national law. 

In the winter of 1793 and 1794, the public mind of America was 
extensively agitated by the inflammatory appeals of the French Minister, 
Genet. It is known to all with what power and skill this foreign emis- 
sary was resisted in the official correspondence of the then Secretary of 
State, Thomas Jefferson. Among those who co-operated in the public 
prints, in the same patriotic cause, none was more conspicuous than Mr. 
Adams, whose essays, in support of the administration, were read and 
admired throughout the country. 

His reputation was now established as an American statesman, patriot, 
and political writer, of the first order. Before his retirement from the 
Department of State, Mr. Jefferson recommended him to General Wash- 
ington as a proper person to be introduced into the public service of the 
country. The acquaintance between Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, 
which had been formed in France, had lately been renewed, on occasion 
of a visit of Mr. Adams to Philadelphia in 1792 ; and the promptitude 
and ability with which he had just seconded the efforts of the Secretary 
of State, in enforcing the principles of public law on the turbulent French 
Envoy, no doubt led Mr. Jefferson thus to recommend him to General 
Washington. 

General Washington's own notice had been drawn to the publications 
of Mr. Adams above alluded to. He had in private expressed the highest 
opinion of them, and had made particular inquiries with respect to their 
author. Thus honorably identified, at the early age of twenty-seven, with 
the first great and decisive step of the foreign policy of the United States, 
and thus early attracting the notice, and enjoying the confidence of Wash- 



240 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

ington and Jefferson, Mr. Adams was, in 1794, appointed Minister Resident 
to the Netherlands, an office corresponding in rank and salary with that 
of a Charge d' Affaires at the present day. The father of Mr. Adams 
was, at this time, Vice-President of the United States ; but it is unneces- 
sary to say, to those acquainted with the character of these great men, 
that the appointment of his son was made by General "Washington unex- 
pectedly to the Vice-President, and without any previous intimation that 
it would take place. 

Mr. Adams remained at his post in Holland till near the close of 
General Washington's administration. He was an attentive observer of 
the great events then occurring in Europe, and his official correspondence 
with the Government was regarded by General Washington as of the 
highest importance. 

One of the last acts of General Washington's administration was the 
appointment of Mr. Adams as Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal. On 
his way from the Hague to Lisbon, he received a new commission, 
changing his destination to Berlin. This latter appointment was made 
by Mr. Adams' father, then President of the United States, and in a 
manner highly honorable to the restraint of his parental feelings, in the 
discharge of an act of public duty. Although Mr. Adams' appointment 
to Portugal was made by General Washington, and Mr. Adams' father 
did no more than propose his transfer to Berlin, yet feelings of delicacy 
led him to hesitate, before he took even this step. He consulted the 
beloved father of his country, then retired from office, and placed in a 
situation beyond the reach of any of the motives which can possibly 
prejudice the minds of men in power. The following letter from Gene- 
ral Washington is the reply to President Adams' inquiry, and will ever 
remain an honorable testimony to the character of Mr. Adams. 

" Monday, February 20, 1797 
" Dear Sir, 

" I thank you for giving me a perusal of the inclosed. The sentiments 
do honor to the head and heart of the writer ; and if my wishes would 
be of any avail, they should go to you in a strong hope, that you will not 
withhold merited promotion from John Q. Adams, because he is your 
son. For without intending to compliment the father or the mother, or 
to censure any others, I give it as my decided opinion, that Mr. Adams 
is the most valuable public character we have abroad ; and that there 
remains no doubt in my mind, that he will prove himself to be the ablest 
of all our diplomatic corps. If he was now to be brought into that line, 
or into any other public walk, I could not, upon the principle which has 
regulated my own conduct, disapprove of the caution which is hinted at 
in the letter. But he is already entered ; the public, more and more, as 
he is known, are appreciating his talents and worth ; and his country 
would sustain a loss, if these were to be checked by over delicacy on 
your part. 

" With sincere esteem, and affectionate regard, 

" I am ever yours, 

" Geo. Washington." 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 241; 

The principal object of Mr. Adams' mission to Berlin, Wiis effected by 
the ccnclusion of a treaty of commerce with Prussia. He remained in 
that country till the spring of 1801, when he Avas recalled by his father 
and returned to America. During the last year of his residence in Ger- 
many, Mr. Adams made an excursion into the province of Silesia, which 
he has described in a series of letters that have been collected and pub- 
lished in a volume, and have been translated into French and German, 
and extensively circulated in Europe. 

Mr. Adams's residence on the continent of Europe, from 1794 to 1801, 
was of great importance in its influence upon his political character and 
feelings. He contemplated, with every advantage for understanding their 
secret springs, the great movements in the political world, which were 
then taking place. His early education in France, and his connexion 
with the continental courts, prevented his forming those attachments for 
the English policy, which almost universally prevailed among such of 
the citizens of America as opposed the principles of the French revolu- 
tion. The union of these circumstances enabled him to hold an im- 
partial and truly American course between the the violent extremes to 
which public opinion in America ran, on the great question of our foreign 
relations. It was also fortunate that he was absent from the country, 
during the period when domestic parties were organized and arrayed 
against each other. We have already seen that his manly and patriotic 
course had gained him the approbation of Mr. Jefferson before he retired 
from office. The great schism in the American family had not yet taken 
place. General Washington labored to prevent its occurrence, and dis- 
tributed hiy appointments among all the able and patriotic, without regard 
to the party distinctions which were forming. 

Mr. Adams came into the Presidency in 1797, with the intention, had 
the strong current of events permitted him, to pursue the same course. 
The first >;tep taken by him after his inauguration, was a friendly and 
confidential interview with Mr. Jefferson, in which he proposed to him, 
if it should be thought proper, on consideration, for the Vice-President to 
leave the country, to go to France as the American Minister, in the hope 
that he, if any one, would be able to adjust our difficulties with that 
country. That Mr. Jefferson, on his side, had not suffered the political 
contests, into which they had been drawn, to alienate his feelings from 
his old revolutionary copatriot, is apparent from the following letter of 
Mr. Jefferson to Governor Langdon, which was written after the election 
of Mr. Adams as President, and Mr. Jefferson as Vice-President, was 
ascertained. 

" MoNTicELLo, January 22, 1797. 
" Dear Sir, 

" Your friendly letter of the 2d instant never came to hand till yesterday, 
and I feel indebted for the solicitude you therein express for my under- 
taking the office, to which you inform me I am now called. I know not 
from what source an idea has spread itself, which I have found to be 
generally spread, that I would accept the office of President of the United 
States, but not that of Vice-President. When I retired from the office J 
31 



242 JOHN QUINCy adams. 

last lie Id, no man in the Union less expected than I did, ever to have' 
come forward again ; and whatever has been insinuated to the contrary, 
to no man in the Union was the share which my name bore in the late 
contest, more unexpected than it was to me. If I had contemplated the 
thinfT beforehand, and suffered my will to enter into action at all upon it, 
would have been in a direction exactly the reverse of what has been 
imputed to me. But I had no right to a will on the subject, much less 
to control that of the people of the United States in arranging us accord- , 
ing to our capacities. Least of all could I have any feelings, which 
would revolt at taking a station secondary to Mr. Adams. I have been 
secondary to him, in every situation in which we ever acted together iri 
public life, for twenty years past. A contrary position would have been 
novelty, and his the right of revolting at it. Be assured, then, my dear 
Sir, that if 1 had had a fibre in my composition still looking after public 
office, it would have been gratified precisely by the very call you are 
pleased to give me, and no other. But in truth, I wish for neither honors 
nor offices. I am happier at home than T can be elsewhere. Since, 
however, I am called out, an object of great anxiety to me is, that those 
with whom I am to act, shutting their minds to the unfounded abuse of 
which I have been the subject, will view me with the same candor 
with which I shall certainly act. An acquaintance of many long years, 
insures to me your just support, as it does to you the sentiments of sin- 
cere respect and attachment, wath which I am, dear Sir, yoiir friend and 
servant, Thomas Jefferson. 

" Honorable John Langdon." 

The same sentiments of respect towards Mr. Adams, were more publicly 
expressed by Mr. Jefferson on taking the chair of the Senate, as Vice- 
President of the United States, in the following terms : " I might here 
proceed, and with the greatest truth, to declare my zealous attachment to 
the Con>5titution of the United States ; that I consider the union of these 
States as the first of blessings ; and as the first of duties, the preservation 
of that Constitution, Avhich secures it ; but I suppose these declarations 
not pertinent to the occasion of entering into an office, whose primary 
business is merely to preside over the forms of this House ; and no one 
more sincerely prays that no accident may call me to the higher and 
more important functions which the Constitution eventually devolves on 
this office. These have been justly confided to the eminent character 
which has preceded me here, whose talents and integrity have been known 
and revered by me, through a long course of years ; have been the foun- 
dation of a cordial and uninterrupted friendship between us ; and I 
devoutly pray he may be long preserved for the government, the happi- 
ness, and the prosperity of our common country." 

Such were the feelings entertained towards each other by these vene- 
rable fellow laborers in the cause of American Independence, who have 
happily closed, in a singular coincidence of death, the lives which they had 
passed in an unison scarcely interrupted, ir the service of their country. 
But the extraordinary nature of our foreign relations, in their influence 
on domestic politics, proved too strong for the control of the wise, the 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

candid, and the patriotic. The country was rent into contending parties. 
The President of the United States regarded as the head of the federal 
party, was compelled, besides the natural resistance of the party opposed 
to his administration, to encounter the odium of the strong and violent 
measures, brought forward by the friends of General Hamilton, among 
them the Alien and Sedition Laws, neither of which was recommended 
nor desired by Mr. Adams, nor proposed by his advice. In consequence 
of his refusal to plunge the country into a war with France, Mr. Adams 
lost the support of General Hamilton and his friends, whose opposition, 
defeated his re-election ; and thus prostrated the devout prayer of Mr. 
Jefferson, that he might be long preserved " for the Government of the 
country." 

During this critical period of our foreign and domestic politics, Mr. John 
Q. Adams was abroad. He was aloof from the scene of warfare. His situa- 
tion secured him from the necessity of taking part in those political conten- 
tions in which he must either have been placed in the painful position of 
acting with the party opposed to his father, or he would have been 
obliged to encounter the natural imputation of being biassed in support 
of him by filial attachment. From this painful alternative Mr. Adams 
was spared, by his residence abroad, during the whole period in which 
our domestic parties were acquiring their organization ; and he returned 
to his native land, as every American of ingenuous mind unfailingly 
returns after a long absence, a stranger to local parties, and a friend to his 
covmtry. There was not an individual in the country, to whom, with 
greater justice than Mr. Adams, might have been applied the magnani- 
mous remark of Mr. Jefferson, in his inaugural address, " We are all 
Republicans, we are all Federalists." 

In 1802, Mr. Adams was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, from 
the district of Boston ; and signalized that fearless independence, which 
has ever characterized his political course, by his strong, though ineffec- 
tual opposition to a powerful combination of banking interests, of which 
the centre was placed among his immediate constituents. 

In 1803, he was elected a Senator of the United States for six years, 
from the 4th of March, 1803. No person could come into that body, in 
a situation better to enable him to act the honorable part of an indepen- 
dent, upright, and patriotic Senator. He had successively received testi- 
monials of the respect and confidence of those, who had administered the 
government, including Mr. Jefferson, then President. In the political 
controversies of the day he had not shared. He was pledged neither in 
opposition nor support to any men or measures, other than those which 
his sense of duty should dictate to him to be supported or opposed. 

His conduct in the Senate was such as to have been justly expected 
from his position. He had neither principles to permit, nor passions to 
drive him into indiscriminate opposition or blind support. He supported 
the administration in every measure which his judgment approved. 
Especially in the new aspect which the political world was assuming in 
consequence of the infraction of our neutral rights and violation of the 
sovereignty of our flag by Great Britain, Mr. Adams was the prompt 
and undeviating supporter of the honor of his country, and of the 



244 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

measures adopted by the administration for its defence. In pursuing this 
independent course, Mr. Adams incurred the disapprobation of the legis- 
lature of Massachusetts, which, in May, 1808, by a small majority of 
federal votes, elected another person, as Senator, from the period of -the 
expiration of Mr. Adams's term, and passed resolutions of the nature of 
instruction to their Senators, containing principles which Mr. Adams 
disapproved. Choosing neither to act in conformity with these resolu- 
tions, nor to represent constituents who had lost their confidence in him, 
Mr. Adams resigned his place in the Senate of the United States. 

It needs not be said that 'the decided support of a man like Mr. Adams 
was peculiarly acceptable to the administration at this moment. It was 
a support given in the dark days of Mr. Jefferson's administration, when 
England was now acting against the country the part which France had 
acted ten years before, and when the operation of the restricting system 
^the only measure of resistance, which, in the opinion of the adminis- 
tration, the country could then in prudence adopt ;) had paralyzed the 
energies of the country, and excited Avide spread discontent. It was a 
support given by an independent statesman, who had borne the name of 
the opposite party, at a moment when, in addition to all the strength of 
the federalists, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison were called to encounter, 
within the bosom of their own party and their own State, the unexpect- 
ed and perilous defection of men, who had once led the ranks of the 
republican party, in the House of Representatives ; but who now quar- 
relled with Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, and threw themselves 
into a course of unsparing and imrelaxing opposition. At this moment 
of trial, when, besides the honest conflict of opposite parties, Mr. Jeffer- 
son was thus pressed by the whole incumbent weight of the British 
empire, and by a tremendous assault from the ranks of his friends, 
aiming to embarrass him and supplant Mr. Madison, Mr. Adams came 
out boldly and manfully in his support. 

The retirement of Mr. Adams from the Senate of the United States, 
although varying the direction, did not abate the activity of his uncom- 
mon powers for serving his fellow men. A life of unremitted public 
occupation had, by virtue of strict method, untiring diligence, and 
temperate habits, left him leisure to acquire, as a relaxation, a mass of 
useful learning, which would, in most cases, have been deemed the fruit 
of a life of literary seclusion. Distinguished as a Avriter among the 
best which the country has produced, and as a public speaker, for force, 
and impressiveness, and senatorial eloquence, not less rare, Mr. Adams 
was, in 1806, called to the chair of rhetoric and oratory, in the semi- 
nary where he received his education, and delivered a course of lectures 
on the Art of Speaking Well ; the most important art to the youth of a 
free country. 

But his country had higher claims upon his services. In June, 1809, 
he was appointed by Mr. Madison as Minister to Russia. He had the 
good fortune, here, to acquire the confidence of the Emperor Alexander, 
who was delighted with the contrast of the republican simpHcity of the 
American Minister with the splendor of the foreign Envoys. He admit- 
ted Mr. Adams to a degree of intimacy rarely enjoyed with despotic 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 245 

monarchs even by their own ministers. This circumstance laid the 
foundation of that good-will toward America, on the part of the Empe- 
ror Alexander, of which the country has enjoyed, on many occasions, 
the important fruits. But its first fruit was the most important of 
all ; for it was unquestionably owing to the confidential relation 
between Mr. Adams and the Emperor, that the mediation of Russia 
was tendered between England and the United States ; a mediation 
which, though it was declined by England, produced an offer from that 
country to treat directly, and thus led to peace. 

It was for this reason that he was placed by Mr. Madison at the head 
of the commission of five, by which the treaty of peace was negociated, 
and which consisted of some of the ablest men in the country. It is 
unnecessary to speak of the skill, with which that negociation was 
conducted. Mr. Adams bore a full part in its counsels and labors ; 
and a proportionate share of the credit is due to him, for that cogency 
and skill which drew from the Marquis of Wellesley, in the British 
House of Lords, the declaration that, " in his opinion, the American 
Commissioners had shown the most astonishing superiority over the 
British, during the whole of the correspondence." 

This tribute is the more honorable to Mr. Adams and his colleagues, 
Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Clay, and their departed associate Mr. Bayard, from 
the circumstance, that, on every important point, the British Commission- 
ers received special instructions from the Ministry at London, directing 
the terms in which the American Envoys were to be answered. 

Having borne this important part, in bringing the war to a close by an 
honorable peace, Mr. Adams was employed, in conjunction with Messrs. 
Clay and Gallatin, in negociating a convention of commerce with Great 
Britain, on the basis of which our commercial intercourse with that 
country has been since advantageously conducted. Having been 
appointed our Minister at London by Mr. Madison, Mr. Adams remain- 
ed in that place, till the accession of Mr. Monroe to the chair of State. 
On this occasion, Mr. Monroe, in the formation of his Cabinet, took 
deliberate counsel with the most prudent and patriotic citizens of the 
country. Among others the opinion of General Jackson was freely 
imparted to him. The counsel of this distinguished citizen was express- 
ed, in the following terms : " Every thing depends on the selection of 
your ministry. In every selection, party and party feelings should be 
avoided. Now is the time to exterminate that monster, called party 
spirit. By selecting characters most conspicuous for their probity, 
virtue, capacity, and firmness, without any regard to party, you will go 
far, if not entirely, to eradicate those feelings, which on former occasions 
threw so many obstacles in the way of government, and perhaps have 
the pleasure and honor of uniting a people heretofore politically divided. 
The Chief Magistrate of a great and powerful nation should never 
indulge in party feelings." 

To this counsel Mr. Monroe felt himself unable to accede. He 
thought that " the association of any of the federal party in the adminis- 
tration would wound the feelings of its friends to the injury of the 
republican cause." He made known, however, to General Jackson his 



246 JOHN QDINCY ADAMS. 

design of distributing, as far as possible, the places in the cabinet, 
throughout the country. " I shall," said he in his letter to General 
Jackson, of March 1st, 1817, " take a person for the Department of 
State from the eastward ; and Mr. Adams, by long service in our diplo- 
matic concerns appearing to entitle him to the preference, supported by 
his acknowledged abilities and integrity, his nomination will go to the 
Senate." In reply to this intimation. General Jackson, in his letter of 
March 18th, observes : " I have no hesitation in saying, you have made 
the best selection to fill the Department of State, that could be made. 
Mr. Adams in the hour of difficulty will be an able helpmate, and I 
am convinced his appointment will afford general satisfaction." It was 
with something of prophetic feeling that General Jackson declared in 
1817, " that Mr. Adams, in the hour of difficulty, would be an able 
helpmate." It was not a long time before the conduct of General 
Jackson himself was the subject of solemn investigation before the grand 
inquest of the nation. The letters of Mr. Adams to the Spanish Minis- 
ter, justifying the conduct of General Jackson, against the complaints 
of Spain, came seasonably to the support of this distinguished citizen, 
and effected the vindication of him against every charge of a violation 
of the rights of Spain. 

In the pursuance (7f the intimation of Mr. Monroe, as above described, 
Mr. Adams was called home from England and became Secretary of State. 
On this arduous office he entered, as General Jackson had foretold that he 
would, " 10 the general approbation of the country." He retained the 
confidence of Mr. Monroe and acquired that of his new colleagues. In 
reference to all questions of the foreign relations of the country, Mr. 
Adams was the influential member of the cabinet ; and is, consequently, 
more than any other individual composing it, entitled to the credit of the 
measures which, during Mr. Monroe's administration, were adopted in 
reference to the foreign policy of the government. It is not necessary 
that these should here be specified. One only is too important to be 
forgotten — the recognition of the independence of the New Republics 
of the South. The credit of first effectually proposing that measure, in 
the House of Representatives, is due to Mr. Clay ; that of choosing the 
propitious moment when it could be proposed with the unanimous 
consent of Congress, and the nation, belongs, in the first degree, to Mr. 
Adams. Nor is he entitled to less credit, for the successful termination 
of our differences with Spain. A controversy, of thirty years' standing, 
which had resisted the skill of every preceding administration of the 
government, was thus brought to an honorable close. Indemnity was 
procured for our merchants, and East and West Florida added to our 
republic. Next to the purchase of Louisiana, the history of our country 
presents no measure of equal brilliancy with that of the acquisition of 
this territory. 

On every important occasion and question that arose during Mr. Mon- 
roe's administration, the voice of Mr. Adams was for his country, for 
mild councils, and for union. In the agitations of the Missouri question, 
his influence was exerted for conciliation. He believed that by the Con- 
stitution and the treaty of cession of 1803, Congress was barred from 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 247 

adopting the proposed restrictions on the admission of Missouri. Of 
internal improvement by roads and canals, he was ever the friend, and. 
' moved in the Senate of tlie United States the first project of their 
systematic construction. To the protection of American manufactures, 
by a judicious revision of the tariff, he was, in like manner, friendly. 
To the cause of religion and learning he afforded all the aid in the power 
of an individual, not merely by the uniform countenance of every effort 
for their advancement, but by the most liberal pecuniary assistance to the 
college, founded by the communion of Baptists, in the Dictrict of Co- 
lumbia. 

Such were his claims to the last and highest gift which the people can 
bestow on a long tried, faithful servant. Various circumstances con- 
spired to strengthen them, in the Presidential canvass for the term 
beginning in 1825. Of nine Presidential elections, one only had given 
a President to a non-slave holding State. Of the several candidates 
presented to the people at this election, Mr. Adams was the only one 
who represented the non-slave holding interest. The people of our 
slave holding States are sacredly entitled to protection, in their rights 
and feelings on this subject ; but they ought, neither in prudence nor 
justice, to demand a monopoly in the government of the country. Of 
nine elections, one only had resulted in the choice of a representative of 
the commercial, navigating, and manufacturing interests. Had the choice 
been presented to the people between Mr. Adams and any other candidate 
singly, Mr. Adams would perhaps have been chosen ; he having been, it 
is believed, in almost every State, either the first or second choice of the 
people. 

In consequence of the number of candidates, no choice by the people 
was effected, and no candidate approached to nearer than within thirty 
votes of a majority. The three pers^ons who received the highest number 
of votes for the Presidency, were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, 
and William H. Crawford. For the Vice-Presidency, John C. Calhoun, 
of South Carolina, received one hundred and eighty-two votes, and was 
consequently elected. The choice of the President, according to consti- 
tutional provisions, fell upon the House of Representatives, and, contrary 
to all previous expectations, an election was effected at the first balloting; 
Mr. Adams having received the votes of thirteen States, Genera.1 Jack- 
son the votes of seven States,- and Mr. Crawford the votes of four Slates. 
The result of the election created great surprise, and in many quarters 
great indignation. The cry of corruption and intrigue was raised on all 
sides, and it was among the assertions of the time that Mr. Clay had 
sold the vote of Kentucky for the promise of place. 

A committee of the House was appointed to wait on Mr. Adams, and 
notify him of his election to the Presidency ; to this notification Mr. 
Adams returned the following reply : 

" Gentlemen — In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives 
of the people, and States of this Union, I am deeply sensible to the cir- 
cumstances under which it has been given. All my predecessors in the high 
station to which the favor of the House now calls me, have been honored 
wiih majorities of the electoral voices in their primary colleges. It has 



248 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

been my fortune to be placed, by the divisions of sentiment prevailing 
among our countrymen on this occasion, in competition, friendly and 
honorable, with three of my fellow citizens, all justly enjoying, in eminent 
degrees^, :he public favor ; and of whose worth, talents, and services, no 
one entertains a higher and more respectful sense than myself. The 
names of two of them were, in the fulfillment of the provisions of the 
Constitution, presented to the selection of the House, in concurrence with 
my own : names, closely associated with the glory of the nation, and one 
of them further recommended by a larger majority of the primary elec- 
toral suffrages than mine. 

" In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust thus dele- 
gated to me, give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and to 
express with a nearer approach to unanimity, the object of their preference, 
I should not hesitate to decline the acceptance of this eminent charge, 
and to submit the decision of this momentous question again to their 
determination. But the Constitution itself has not so disposed of the 
contingency which Avould arise in the event of my refusal; I shall, 
therefore, repair to the post assigned me by the call of my country signi- 
fied through her constitutional organs ; oppressed with the magnitude of 
the task before me, but cheered with the hope of that generous support from 
my fellow citizens, which, in the vicissitudes of a life devoted to their 
service, has never failed to sustain me — confident in the trust, that the 
wisdom of the legislative councils will guide and direct me in the path of 
my ofllcial duty, and relying, above all, upon the superintending providence 
of that Being ' in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways.' 

" Gentlemen, I pray you to make acceptable to the House the assurance 
of my profound gratitude for their confidence, and to accept yourselves 
my thanks for the friendly terms in which you have communicated to 
me their decision." 

On the 4th of March, 1825, Mr. Adams was inaugurated as President 
of the United States. At about half past twelve on that day he was intro- 
duced into thecapitol, followed by the venerable Ex-President and his fa- 
mily, by the Judges of the Supreme Court in their robes of office, and the 
members of the Senate, preceded by the Vice-President, with a number 
of members of the House of Representatives. Mr. Adams, in a plain 
suit of blaclc, ascended the steps to the Speaker's chair, and took his seat. 
Silence having been proclaimed and the- doors of the hall closed, Mr. 
Adams rose and read an address, which occupied about forty minutes in 
the delivery. Great interest was felt on this subject, as tliose productions 
had usually contained the general principles upon which the Executive 
intended to administer the government. The discourse, from its impor- 
tance, is worthy of a place in this volume, and is as follows : 

" In compliance with an usage, coeval with the existence of our Federal 
Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the 
career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow citizens, in 
your presence, and in that of heaven, to bind myself by the solemnities 
of a religious obligation, to the faithful performance of the duties allotted 
to me, in the station to which I have been called. 

"In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 249 

governed, in the fulfilment of those duties, my first resort will be to that 
Constitution, which I shall swear, to the best of my ability, to preserve, 
protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers, 
and prescribes the duties of the executive magistrate ; and, in its first 
words, declares the purposes to which these, and the whole action of the 
government, instituted by it, should be invariably and sacredly devoted — 
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure 
the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union, in their successive 
generations. Since the adoption of this social compact, one of these 
generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers. Ad- 
ministered by some of the most eminent men, who contributed to its 
formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and 
through all the vicissitudes of peace and war, incidental to the condition 
of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of 
those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. It has promoted the 
lasting welfare of that country, so dear to us all ; it has, to an extent, far 
beyond the ordinary lot of humanity, secured the freedom and happiness 
of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those 
to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the 
examples which they have left to us, and by the blessings which we have 
enjoyed, as the fruits of their labors, to transmit the same, unimpaired, 
to the succeeding generation. 

" In the compass of thirty-six years, since this great national covenant 
was instituted, a body of laws enacted under its authority, and in confor- 
mity with its provisions, has unfolded its powers, and carried into practical 
operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have distri- 
buted the executive functions in their various relations to foreign affairs, 
to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military force of the Union 
by land and sea. A co-ordinate department of the judiciary has expound- 
ed the Constitution and the laws ; settling, in harmonious coincidence 
with the legislative will, numerous weighty questions of construction 
which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable. 
The year of jubilee, since the first formation of our Union, has just 
elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. The 
consummation of both was effected by this Constitution. Since that period, 
a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory 
bounded by the Mississippi, has been extended from sea to sea. New 
States have been admitted to the Union, in numbers nearly equal to those 
of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce, have 
been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people 
of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquests, but 
by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights 
and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by 
the axe of our woodsmen — the soil has been made to teem by the tillage 
of our farmers ; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion 
of man over physical nature, has been extended by the invention of our 
artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes 
of human association have been accomplished as effect lally as under any 
32 



250 JOHN QTJINCY ADAMS. 

other government on the globe ; and at a cost, little exceeding, in a whole 
generation, the expenditures of other nations in a single year. 

" Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition, under a Consti- 
tution founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. To admit 
that this picture has its shades, is but to say, that it is still the condition 
of men upon earth. From evil, physical, moral, and political, it is not 
our claim to be exempt. We have suffered, sometimes by the visitation 
of Heaven, through disease ; often by the wrongs and injustice of other 
nations, even to the extremities of war ; and, lastly, by dissensions among 
ourselves — dissensions, perhaps, inseparable from the enjoyment of free- 
dom, but which have more than once appeared to threaten the dissolution 
of the Union, and, with it, the overthrow of all the enjoyments of our 
present lot, and all our earthly hopes of the future. The causes- of these 
dissensions have been various, founded upon differences of speculation in 
the theory of republican government ; upon conflicting views of policy, 
in our relations with foreign nations ; upon jealousies of partial and sec- 
tional interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions, which 
strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain. 

" It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me, to observe 
that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights, 
has, at the close of that generation by which it was formed, been crown- 
ed with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders. 
Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defence, the general welfare, and 
the blessings of liberty — all have been promoted by the government under 
which we have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back to 
that generation which has gone by, and forward to that which is advanc- 
ing, we may, at once, indulge in grateful exultation, and in cheering 
hope. From the experience of the past, we derive instructive lessons for 
the future. Of the two great political parties which have divided the 
opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now 
admit, that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, 
ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices, to the formation and 
administration of this government ; and that both have required a liberal 
indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The revolution- 
ary wars of Europe, commencing precisely at the moment wlien the 
government of the United States first went into operation under this 
Constitution, excited a collision of sentiments and of sympathies, which 
kindled all the passions, and embittered the conflict of parties, till the 
nation was involved in war, and the Union Avas shaken to its 
centre. This time of trial embraced a period of five and twenty 
years, during which, the policy of the Union, in its relations with Eu- 
rope, constituted the principal basis of our political divisions, and the 
most arduous part of the action of our federal government. With the 
catastrophe in which the wars of the French revolution terminated, and 
our own subsecpient peace with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party 
strife was uprooted. From that time, no difference of principle connected 
either with the theory of government, or with our intercourse with foreign 
nations, has existed, or been called forth, in force sufficient to sustain a 
continued combination of parties, or give more than wholesome anima- 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 251 

tion to public sentiment, or legislative debate. Our political creed is, 
without a dissenting voice that can be heard, that the will of the people 
is the source, and the happiness of the people the end, of all legitimate 
government upon earth — That the best security for the beneficence, and 
the best guaranty against the abuse of power, consists in the freedom, the 
purity, and the frequency of popular elections — That the general govern- 
ment of the Union, and the separate governments of the States, are all 
sovereignties of limited powers ; fellow servants of the same masters, 
•uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by encroach- 
ments upon each other — That the firmest security of peace is the prepa- 
ration, during peace, of the defences of war — That a rigorous economy, 
and accountability of public expenditures, should guard against the 
aggravation, and alleviate, when possible, the burden of taxation — That 
the military should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power — 
That the freedom of the press, and of religious opinion, should be invio- 
late — That the policy of our country is peace, and the ark of our salvation 
union, are articles of faith upon which we are all agreed. If there have 
been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy 
were a government competent to the wise and orderly management of 
the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled. 
If there have been projects of partial confederacies, to be erected upon 
the ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the winds. If there 
have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation, and antipathies 
against another, they have been extinguished. Ten years of peace, at 
home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities of political contention, and 
blended into harmony the most discordant elements of public opinion. 
There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice 
and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation, who have 
heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that of discard- 
ing every remnant of rancor against each other; of embracing, as coun- 
trymen and friends ; and of yielding to talents and virtue alone, that 
confidence which, in times of contention for principle, was bestowed only 
upon those who bore the badge of party communion. 

"The collisions of party spirit, which originate in speculative opinions, 
or in different views of administrative policy, are, in their nature, transi- 
tory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse 
interests of soil, climate, and modes of domestic life, are more permanent, 
and, therefore, perhaps, more dangerous. It is this which gives inestima- 
ble value to the character of our government, at once federal and national. 
It holds out to us a perpetual admonition to preserve alike, and with 
equal anxiety, the rights of each individual State in its own government, 
and the rights of the whole nation, in that of the Union. Whatever is 
of domestic concernment, unconnected with the other members of the 
Union, or with foreign lands, belongs exclusively to the administration 
of the State Governments. Whatsoever directly involves the rights and 
interests of the federative fraternity, or of foreign powers, is of the resort 
of this general government. The duties of both are obvious in the 
general principle, though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in the 
detail. To respect the rights of the State Governments is the inviolable 



252 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

duty of that of the Union : the government of every State will feel its 
own obligation to respect and preserve the rights of the whole. The 
prejudices every where too commonly entertained against distant strangers, 
are worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the 
composition and functions of the great national councils, annually assem- 
bled from all quarters of the Union, at this place. Here the distinguished 
men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate upon 
the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn to estimate 
the talents, and do justice to the virtues of each other. The harmony 
of the nation is promoted, and the whole Union is knit together by the 
sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the 
ties of personal friendship, formed between the representatives of its 
several parts, in the performance of their service at this metropolis. 

" Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions of 
the Federal Constitution, and their results, as indicating the first traces of 
the path of duty, in the discharge of my public trust, I turn to the admi- 
nistration of my immediate predecessor, as the second. It has passed 
away in a period of profound peace ; how much to the satisfaction of 
our country, and to the honor of our country's name, is kno^Am to 
you all. The great features of its policy, in general concurrence with 
the will of the Legislature, have been — To cherish peace while preparing 
for defensive war — To yield exact justice to other nations, and maintain 
the rights of our own — To cherish the principles of freedom and of equal 
rights, wherever they were proclaimed — To discharge, with all possible 
promptitude, the national debt — To reduce, within the narrowest limits 
of efficiency, the military force — To improve the organization and disci- 
pline of the army — To provide and sustain a school of military science — 
To extend equal protection to all the great interests of the nation — To 
promote the civilization of the Indian tribes ; and — To proceed in the great 
system of internal improvements, within the limits of the constitutional 
power of the Union. Under the pledge of these promises, made by that 
eminent citizen, at the time of his first induction to this office, in his 
career of eight years, the internal taxes have been repealed ; sixty mil- 
lions of the public debt have been discharged ; provision has been made 
for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving 
warriors of the revolution ; the regular armed force has been reduced, 
and its constitution revised and perfected ; the accountability for the 
expenditures of public moneys has been made more effective ; the Flori- 
das have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended 
to the Pacific ocean ; the independence of the southern nations of this 
hemisphere has been recognised, and recommended, by example and by 
council, to the potentates of Europe ; progress has been made in the 
defence of the country, by fortifications and the increase of the navy— ■ 
towards the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves — in allui 
ing the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and 
of the mind — in exploring the interior regions of the Union, and in 
preparing, by scientific researches and surveys, for the further application 
of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. 

" In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my immediate 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 253 

predecessor, the line of duty, for his successor, is cleaily delineated. To 
pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our 
common condition, instituted or recommended by him, will embrace ihe 
whole sphere of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, 
emphatically'- urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar 
satisfaction. It is that from which I am convinced that the unborn 
millions of our posterity, who are in future ages to people this continent, 
will derive their most fervent gi'atitude to the founders of the Union ; 
that in which the beneficent action of its government will be most deeply 
felt and acknowledged. The magnificence and splendor of their public 
works are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The 
roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after ageo. 
and have survived, thousands of years, after all her conquests have bfeo 
swallowed up in despotism, or become the spoil of barbarians. Some 
diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress 
for legislation upon objects of this nature. The most respectful deference 
is due to doubts, originating in pure patriotism, and sustained by vene- 
rated authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the construc- 
tion of the first national road was commenced. The authority for its 
construction was then unquestioned. To how many thousands of our 
countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it 
ever proved an injury ? Repealed liberal and candid discussions in the 
Legislature have conciliated the sentiments, and approximated the opinions 
of enlightened minds, upon the question of constitutional power. I can- 
not but hope, that, by the same process of friendly, patient, and persevering 
deliberation, all constitutional objections will ultimately be removed. 
The extent and limitation of the powers of the general government, in 
relation to this transcendantly important interest, will be settled and 
acknowledged, to the common satisfaction of all ; and every speculative 
scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing. 

" Fellow citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances 
of the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportu- 
nity of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of 
the principles which will direct me in the fulfilment of the high and 
solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. Less possessed of your 
confidence, in advance, than any of my predecessors, I am deeply con- 
scious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need cf your 
indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare 
of our country, and the unceasing application of the faculties allotted to 
me, to her service, are all the pledges that I can give for the faithful 
performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. To the guidance of 
the legislative councils ; to the assistance of the executive and subordinate 
departments ; to the friendly co-operation of the respective State Govern- 
ments ; to the candid and liberal support of the people, so far as it may 
be deserved by honest industry and zeal ; I shall look for whatever success 
may attend my public service : and knowing that, ' except the Lord keep 
the city, the watchman waketh but in vain,' with fervent supplications for 
His favor, to His overruling providence, I commit, with humble but fear- 
less confidence, my own Aue, and the future destinies of my country." 



254 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

After delivering this address, the President elect descended from the 
chair, and placing himself on the right hand of the Judges' table, received 
from the Chief Justice a volume of the laws of the United States, from 
which he read the oath of office : at the close of which, the House rang 
with the cheers and plaudits of the assembled multitude.* 

The vacancies which were made in the cabinet by the election of the 
Secretary of State and War to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, and 
by the retirement of the Secretary of the Treasury, rendered it expedient 
••0 convene the Senate, immediately after the dissolution of the eighteenth 
Congress. On the 4th of March, the same day when the President was 
inaugurated, the members assembled, and after the necessary formalities 
were gone through, the Vice-President took the chair, and addressed the 
Senate upon the importance of its duties, and the immediate dependence 
of all the other departments of the government upon that body. After 
glancing at the construction of the Senate, and commending the character 
it had sustained, he proceeded to say, that while presiding, " he should 
only regard the Senate and its duties, and should strive with a feeling of 
pride to preserve the high character already attained by the Senate for 
dignity and wisdom, and to elevate it, if possible, still higher in public 
esteem." The new members then appeared and took their seats. 
Upon the presentation of the credentials of Mr. Lanman, of Connecticut, 
a question was raised as to his right to a seat, under the following circum- 
stances. Previous to the expiration of his term of service, the Legislature 
of Connecticut had endeavored without success to choose a person to fill 
the vacancy whenever it should occur, and finally adjourned without 
making a choice. After the adjournment of the Legislature, the Go- 
vernor transmitted to Mr. Lanman a temporary appointment as Senator, 
in contemplation of the vacancy, under that part of the Constitution 
authorizing appointments by the State Executives, " when vacancies 
happen by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature." 

A committee was appointed to search for precedents, and reported the 
following cases bearing on the question before the Senate. 

On the 27th of April, 1797, William Cocke was appointed a Senator 
by the Governor of Tennessee, to fill ihe vacancy caused by the expiration 
of his term of service on the 3d of March preceding, and took his seat 
on the 15lh of May, and was qualified. 

This case differed from Mr. Lanman 's only in the fact that Mr. Cocke 
was appointed after the vacancy had occurred, and Mr. Lanman was 
appointed in anticipation of a vacancy. The case of Uriah Tracy, from 
Connecticut, in 1801, resembled the one before the Senate in every par- 
ticular, and the question was there raised as to his right to take his seal. 



* The congratulations which poured in from every side occupied the hands, and 
could not but reach the heart of ihe President. The meeting between him and his 
venerated predecessor, had in it something peculiarly aflecting. General Jackson, 
we were pleased to observe, was among the earliest of those who took the hand of 
the President ; and their looks and deportment towards each other were a rebuke to 
that littleness of party spirit, which can see no merit in a rival, and feel no joy in the 
honor of a competitor. — National Intelligencer. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 255 

The Senate then determined in favor of Mr. Tracy by a vote of thirteen 
to ten. 

Two cases subsequently occurred similar to this precedent, viz. Joseph 
Anderson, a Senator from Tennessee, in 1809, and John Williams, from 
Tennessee, in 1817. To the admission and qualification of these Sena- 
tors no objection was made. The question was considered as settled by 
the decision in 1801, and they took their seats. The Senate now, how- 
ever, came to an opposite conclusion, and by a vote of twenty-three to 
eighteen, decided that Mr. Lanman was not entitled to his seat. 

The Senate then went into the consideration of executive business, and 
confirmed the nominations made by the President for the several depart- 
ments. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, was appointed Secretary of State ; 
Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury ; James Bar- 
bour, of Virginia, Secretary of War. 

To the appointment of Mr. Clay, a warm opposition Avas made on the 
part of a few Senators, and the injunction of secrecy being removed, the 
vote appeared to have been twenty-seven in favor, and fourteen against it. 

After disposing of the nominations made by the executive, the Senate 
took into consideration the treaty made with Colombia for the suppres- 
sion of the slave trade. This treaty was made in conformity with a 
resolution of the House of Representatives, recommending to the execu- 
tive to make treaties, giving the mutual right of search of vessels ia 
suspected parts of the world, in order more effectually to prevent tb-> 
traffic in human flesh. The amendments proposed by the Senate, at th-- 
last session, to the treaty with Great Britain, for the same purpose, wer^^ 
introduced into this treaty ; but the fate of the treaty with England ha:^. 
probably caused a change in the minds of some of the Senators, and other 
views had been taken of the subject by others, and the treaty was rejected 
by a vote of twenty-eight to twelve. 

The divisions which had been taken on the foregoing questions, led 
little doubt that the new administration v/as destined to meet Avith a sy*- 
temalic and organized opposition ; and, previous to the next meeting (i 
Congress, the ostensible grounds of opposition were set forth at pubb"c 
dinners and meetings, so as lo prepare the community for a warm poHti 
cal contest, until the next election. Those who placed themselves it 
opposition to the administration, without reference to its measures, urged 
as reasons for their hostility, that Mr. Adams' election was the result o' 
a bargain between Mr. Clay and himself ; and his election of Mr. Clay 
as Secretary of State, was relied upon as a conclusive proof of the bar- 
gain ; that he was elected against the expressed will of the people ; anc 
that Congress, by not taking General Jackson, the candidate having the 
highest number of votes, had violated the Constitution, and disobeyed 
their constituents. Personal objections were also urged ; but as these 
formed no part of the justification of the opposition which was to be 
arrayed in anticipation of measures, it is unnecessary to give them a 
place. Those who were friendly to the new administration, or disposed 
to judge of it by its acts, replied to these objections, that Mr. Clay, as a 
repi 3sentative, was obliged to decide betvsreen three candidates for the 
Presidency, and that his vote was in ac<H)rdance with all his previous 



256 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

declarations : that his own situation as a candidate who might possibly 
succeed, rendered it unsuitable for him to express any preference for either 
of the other candidates, until the decision of the Legislature of Louisiana 
(first heard at Washington 27th December) had left him free to decide 
between his former competitors : that Mr. Crawford, though constitution- 
ally a candidate, was virtually withdrawn by the situation of hi^ health, 
and that as between Mr. Adams and General Jackson, the previous 
deliberate expression of his sentiments as to the latter's character and 
qualifications for a civil office, rendered it impossible for him to vote for 
him without the most gross inconsistency: that Mr. Adams' experience, 
learning, and talents were guarantees for his proper performance of the 
duties of the chief magistracy, which were not in the power of his 
competitor to offer, and that having been compelled to discharge this duty 
as a representative of the people, it would have argued an improper dis- 
trust, of his own character and of public opinion, to have refused to take 
the appointment of Secretary of State from Mr. Adams, because he had 
contributed by his vote to elect him to the Presidency. As to the fact of 
his selection as Secretary of State, they vindicated it on the ground, that 
his situation as Speaker of the House, and his long and intimate acquamt- 
ance with our national affairs, made him the most prominent candidate for 
that station, and the strong support he received in the Avest for the Presi- 
dency, showed that his appointment would gratify a part of the Union, 
which, until then, had never been complimented with a representative in 
the cabinet."^ 

One of the most prominent topics of public interest during this year, 
was the controversy between the national government and the executive 
of Georgia. This controversy grew out of a compact made between 
these parties in 1802, by which the United States agreed to extinguish 
the Indian title to the lands occupied by them in Georgia, "whenever it 
could be peaceably done, upon reasonable terms." The consideration of 
this compact was the relinquishment, by Georgia, of her claim to the 
Mississippi Territory. The Indian claim to fifteen million acres had 
already been extinguished, and the land conveyed lo Georgia. There 
still remained in that State five millions two hundred and ninety-two 
thousand acres in the possession of the Cherokees, and four millions two 
hundred and forty-five thousand in the hands of the Creek nation. Just 
before the close of Mr. Monroe's administration, great efforts were made 
by Georgia to complete the entire removal of the Indians from her borders, 
and the President had been induced to appoint two commissioners to treat 
with the Creeks for the purchase of their claim. But the Creek nation 
had been enjoying the comforts and security of civilization, and were 
unwilling to leave them for the toilsome life of the hunter. A law Avas 
passed by them, forbidding the sale of land, on the pain of death. No 
persuasion of the commissioners could induce them to waver in their 
pu rpose ; but the treachery of a small part of the nation had nearly led 
to the most unfortunate consequences. A few of the chiefs were induced 
to remain, after the breaking up of the general council of the nation , 

* Annual Kegister. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 257 

and by this small fraction of the Indian power, all the lands of the Creek 
tribes in Georgia and Alabama were ceded to the United States. The 
treaty thus dishonorably formed was transmitted to the Senate, and 
ratified by them on the 3d of March, 1825, the last day of the session. 
Intelligence of this national sanction of injustice produced among the 
Creeks a general excitement, and M'Intosh, the leader of the small party 
which assented to the treaty, was put to death. A council of the Creek 
nation determined that the illegal compact should not be executed. A 
special agent was appointed by the President to ascertain the circumstan- 
ce under which the treaty was made, and his report fully justified the 
charges of corruption and ill faith. On this representation, the President 
very properly resolved that no interference should be made with their 
possession till the meeting of Congress. At this decision the Governor 
of Georgia was much offended, and threatened to take the execution of 
the treaty into his own hands, but the firm measures of the national 
executive induced him to leave the affair to the constitutional authorities. 

A negociation was now opened between the Indian tribes and the na- 
tional government, which resulted in annulling the old treaty, and the 
formation of a new one, by which the Creeks were allowed to retain ai 
their land in Alabama, and ceded all their lands in Georgia for a more 
liberal compensation than had been before stipulated. The chief difTe- 
rence between this and the previous treaty was in the amount ceded, and 
the consideration paid ; but the Georgia delegation and the enemies of 
the administration, made a fruitless opposition to its ratification. 

The condition of the Indians in the north-western States and Territo- 
ries, was another important subject of executive consideration. Wars hiui 
for many years existed among these unfortunate tribes, on account of their 
unsettled boundaries and hunting grounds. A deputation, consisting of 
Governors Cass and Clarke, was appointed to treat with these nations, and 
to attempt the settlement of their differences. Representatives from, the 
most powerful of these tribes, to the number of two thousand and upwards- 
met the commissioners of the United States at Prairie des Chiens, and 
entered vipon a peaceful examination of their respective rights. In about 
a fortnight their claims were satisfactorily adjusted, and hostilities, thai 
had raged for nearly a century almost without cessation, were thus happih 
terminated. The singular success of the commissioners of the Unitec 
States, in producing this felicitous result, reflects on these distinguished 
individuals the highest honor. Seldom has so desirable and importam 
an issue been effected with so much dispatch, judiciousness, and economy 

It was another branch of the national policy, to concentrate the tribe.* 
scattered through the several States into a nation, and remove them tt> 
the west of the Mississippi. This plan was first fully developed in h 
message of President Monroe, bearing date January 27th, 1825. TIk- 
Indians, however, refused to co-operate with our government in the 
measures necessary to effect this object, and the intentions of the Presiden, 
were consequently frustrated. A modification of this system was after 
wards proposed lo Congress by Mr. Barbour, Secretary of War, and y 
bill was introduced to carry his plan into effect. It was the object of tlii^ 
proposal, to set apart the territory west of the Mississippi, beyond the 
33 



258 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

States and Territories, and that east of the Mississippi and west of the 
lakes Huron and Michigan, for the exclusive abode of tlie Indians, under 
a territorial government to be maintained by the United States ; to induce 
ihem to remove as individuals, not as tribes ; and in the course of time 
lo amalgamate them into a common nation, and distribute their property 
among the individual Indians. The establishment of common schools 
was also contemplated, and assistance in learning and pursuing the arts 
of agriculture. This subject was taken up with great zeal and energy, 
and large appropriations were made for effecting the benevolent and wise 
parposes of improvement in the condition of the tribes. A large grant 
wa? also made for the relief of the Florida Indians, who were in a state 
of great distress. 

A subject which greatly excited public interest during the recess of Con- 
gress, was the inquiry instituted into the conduct of Captains Porter and 
Stewart. Captain Porter had been recalled from his command in the 
West Indies, shortly before the close of Mr. Monroe's administration, in 
consequence of his landing at Foxardo to compel an apology from the 
authorities of the place, for their misconduct toward one of the officers 
of his squadron. A court of inquiry was appointed to examine into this 
affair, which seemed an unauthorized infringement on the laws of nations, 
and it assembled at Washington in the month of May, 1S25. A diffe- 
rence occurred between the accused and his tribunal, which resulted in 
the withdrawal of Captain Porter from the court, and a publication of 
his reasons, with an account of the proceedings of the court. This step 
was made the foundation of a substantial charge, when the final opinion 
of the court of inquiry was reported to the President, and a court martial 
was ordered to consider his conduct. This court found Captain Porter 
guilty of violating his instructions by a hostile landing at Foxardo, and 
of insubordination and unbecoming conduct, growing out of his contro 
versy with the court of inquiry. He was accordingly sentenced to a 
suspension of six months. The lightness of the punishment was owing 
to a full conviction on the part of the court, that Captain Porter's conduct 
was merely an error of judgment, and that he was only actuated by the 
desire of promoting the honor of his country, while on the West India 
station. The charges against Captain Stewart were of a different nature, 
calculated to affect his character as an officer and man of honor, but he was 
fully acquitted, after a patient and minute investigation, of every charge. 

In the September of 1825, the Marquis de la Fayette took leave of the 
people, who had received him as an adopted son whom they delighted to 
visit with honors. His course through the United States had been a 
continued series of festivals and celebrations, and for several months 
his life had been a perpetual pageant. It was thought proper that his 
final depa'-'ure from the country should take place from the capitol ; and 
a frigate was accordingly provided, and named in his honor the Brandy- 
wine, to transport him to his native country. On the invitation of the 
President, he passed a few weeks at the national palace, receiving all 
appropriate honors from the people, and taking leave of the distinguished 
men who had been associated with him in the struggles of the revolution. 
*• He had previously visited the venerable Adams, who, from his earliest 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 259 

youth, aimed at independence, as the right of the colonies, and whose 
resolute and single-hearted devotion to that cause, made him emphatically 
the master-spirit of the revolution. He now, in succession, took leave 
of the other Ex-Presidents — the iUustrious author of the declaration of 
independence — the able supporter and advocate of the Federal Constitution 
— and the soldier of the revolution, who had shed his blood in the same 
cause with La Fayette." 

These preliminary visits having been paid, the guest of the nation 
prepared for his departure. The day appointed for the purpose was the 
7th of September. On this occasion, the civil authorities of the District 
of Columbia assembled at the President's house, to join in the affecting 
ceremonies of taking leave of one so honored and loved. About noon, 
La Fayette entered the great hall, accompanied by the marshal of the Dis- 
trict and one of the President's sons. The scene was in the highest 
degree sublime. In his age and glories, the former chivalrous soldier of 
the revolution, now the acknowledged and consistent champion of free 
principles in two hemispheres, was bidding farewell to a grateful nation, 
from whom he had received the most cordial and touching hospitalities. 
The parting address of Mr. Adams was worthy of the occasion, and was 
worthy of his station ; it was delivered with great dignity, though evident 
emotion, and produced a very deep impression. We insert it as one of 
the most favorable specimens of Mr. Adams's eloquence : 

" General La Fayette : It has been the good fortune of many of 
my fellow citizens, during the course of the year now elapsed, upon your 
arrival at their respective places of abode, to greet you with the welcome 
of the nation. The less pleasing task now devolves upon me, of bidding 
you, in the name of the nation, adieu. 

" It were no longer seasonable, and would be superfluous to recapitulate 
the remarkable incidents of your early life — incidents which associated 
your name, fortunes, and reputation, in imperishable connexion with the 
independence and history of the North American Union. 

" The part which you performed at that important juncture, was marked 
with characters so peculiar, that, realizing the fairest fable of antiquity, 
its parallel could scarcely be found in the authentic records of human 
history. 

" You deliberately and perseveringly preferred toil, danger, the endu- 
rance of every hardship, and privation of every comfort, in defence of a 
holy cause, to inglorious ease, and the allurements of rank, affluence, 
and unrestrained youth, at the most splendid and fascinating court of 
Europe, 

" That this choice was not less wise than magnanimous, the sanction 
of half a century, and the gratulations of unnumbered voices, all unable 
to express the gratitude of the heart with which your visit to this hemis- 
phere has been welcomed, afford ample demonstration. 

" When the contest of freedom, to which you had repaired as a volun- 
tary champion, had closed, by the complete triumph of her cause in thi» 
country of your adoption, you returned to fulfil the duties of the philan- 
thropist and patriot in the land of your nativity. There, in a consistent 
and undeviating career of forty years, you have maintained through every 



260 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

vicissitude of alternate success and disappointment, the same glorious 
cause to which the first years of your active life had been devoted, the 
improvement of the moral and political condition of man. 

" Throughout that long succession of time, the people of the United 
States, for whom and with whom you have fought the battles of liberty, 
have been living in the full possession of its fruits ; one of the happiest 
among the family of nations. Spreading in population ; enlarging in 
territory ; acting and suffering according to the condition of their nature ; 
and laying the foundations of the greatest, and, we humbly hope, the 
most beneficent power that ever regulated the concerns of man upon 
earth. 

" In that lapse of forty years, the generation of men with whom you 
co-operated in the conflict of arms, has nearly passed away. Of the 
general officers of the American army in that war, you alone survive. 
Of the sages who guided our councils ; of the warriors who met the foe 
in the field or upon the wave, with the exception of a few, to whom unu- 
sual length of days has been allotted by Heaven, all now sleep with their 
fathers. A succeeding, and even a third generation, have arisen to take 
their places ; and their children's children, while rising up to call them 
blessed, have been taught by them, as well as admonished by their own 
constant enjoyment of freedom, to include in every benison upon their 
fathers, the name of him, Avho came from afar, with them and in their 
cause, to conquer or to fall. 

" The universal prevalence of these sentiments was signally manifested 
by a resolution of Congress, representing the whole people, and all the 
States of this Union, requesting the President of the United States to 
communicate to you the assurances of grateful and affectionate attach- 
ment of this government and people, and desiring that a national ship 
might be employed, at your convenience, for your passage to the borders 
of our country. 

" The invitation was transmitted to you by my venerable predecessor : 
himself bound to you by the strongest ties of personal friendship, himself 
one of those whom the highest honors of his country had rewarded for 
blood early shed in her cause, and for a long life of devotion to her wel- 
fare. By him the services of a national ship were placed at your disposal. 
Your delicacy preferred a more private conveyance, and a full year has 
elapsed since you landed upon our shores. It were scarcely an exaggera- 
tion to say, that it has been, to the people of the Union, a year of unin- 
terrupted festivity and enjoyment, inspired by your presence. You have 
traversed the twenty-four States of this great confederacy — you have 
been received with rapture by the survivors of your earliest companion 
m arms — you have been hailed as a long absent parent by their children, 
the men and women of the present age : and a rising generation, the 
hope of future time, in numbers surpassing the whole population of that 
day when you fought at the head and by the side of their forefathers, 
have vied with the scanty remnants of that hour of trial, in acclamations 
of joy, at beholding the face of him whom they feel to be the common 
benefactor of all. You have heard the mingled voices of the past, the 
present, and the future age, joining ir. onr universal chorus of delight at 



TOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 261 

your approach ; and the shouts of unbidden thousands, which greeted 
your landing on the soil of freedom, have followed every step of your 
way, and still resound, like the rushing of many waters, from every 
corner of our land. 

" You are now about to return to the country of your birth — of your 
ancestors — of your posterity. The execiitive government of the Union, 
stimulated by the same feeling which had prompted the Congress to the 
designation of a national ship for your accommodation in coming hither, 
has destined the first service of a frigate, recently launched at this me- 
tropolis, to the less welcome, but equally distinguished trust, of conveying 
you home. The name of the ship has added one more memorial to 
distant regions and to future ages, of a stream already memorable, at 
once in the story of your sufferings and of our independence. 

" The ship is now prepared for your reception, and equipped for sea. 
From the moment of her departure, the prayers of millions will ascend 
to Heaven that her passage may be prosperous, and your return to the 
bosom of your family as propitious to your happiness, as your visit to 
this scene of your youthful glory has been to that of the American 
people. 

" Go, then, our beloved friend — return to the land of brilliant genius, 
of generous sentiment, of heroic valor ; to that beautiful France, the 
nursing mother of the twelfth Louis, and the fourth Henry ; to the native 
soil of Bayard and Coligni, of Turenne and Catinat, of Fenelon and 
D'Agiiesseau. In that illustrious catalogue of names which she claims 
as of her children, and with honest pride holds up to the admiration of 
other nations, the name of La Fayette has already for centuries been 
enrolled. And it shall henceforth burnish into brighter fame : for if, in 
after days, a Frenchman shall be called to indicate the character of his 
nation by that of one individual, during the age in which we live, the 
blood of lofty patriotism shall mantle in his cheek, the fire of conscious 
virtue shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of La 
Fayette. Yet we, too, and our children, in life and after death, shall 
claim you for our own. You are ours, by that more than patriotic self- 
devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of 
their fate. Ours, by that long series of years in which you have cherished 
us in your regard. Ours by that unshaken sentiment of gratitude for 
your services, which is a precious portion of our inheritance. Ours, by 
that tie of love, stronger than death, which has linked your name, for the 
endless ages of time, with the name of Washington. 

" At the painful moment of parting from you, we take comfort in the 
thought, that wherever you may be, to the last pulsation of your heart, 
our country will be ever present to your affections ; and a cheering con- 
solation assures us, that we are not called to sorrow most of all, that we 
shall see your face no more. We shall indulge the pleasing anticipation 
of beholding our friend again. In the meantime, speaking in the name 
of the whole people of the Uxiited States, and at a loss only for language 
to give utterance to that feeling of attachment with which the heart of 
the nation beats, as the heart of one man — I bid you a reluctant and 
affectionate farewell." 



262 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS*. 

The first session of the nineteeth Congress opened on the 5th of De- 
cember, 1825, and John W. Taylor was chosen Speaker of the Htiuse. 
On the next day the President transmitted his message to Congress by 
his private secretary. This document presented a brief and simple 
examination of our domestic and foreign afTairs. It stated that our 
foreign relations had undergone no material change, since the adjourn- 
ment of the preceding Congress ; but alluded to the recent alteration in 
the British commercial system, and to its partially developed results. It 
called the attention of Congress to the claims of our merchants upon 
various European powers ; and still more earnestly to the claims of the 
few survivors of our revolutionary army, upon their country for relief 
and support. A short review was given of the progress of the United 
States since the adoption of the Constitution, and a new organization of 
some of the departments was suggested, to make them better adapted to 
the advancing wants of the country. The judiciary was particularly 
mentioned as inadequate to the discharge of its multiplied duties. 

The President then proceeded to urge upon Congress the employment 
of the resources of the country, in improving the means of internal com- 
munication. A national university and observatory were recommended, 
and the exploration of the north-west coast, by one of the public ships, 
for the purpose of advancing astronomical and geographical science. 
The efforts of our navy, in repressing the West India piracies, were 
mentioned with approbation, and an increase of our naval establishment 
was recommended, corresponding with the augmented power and com- 
merce of the country. The executive acceptance of the invitation extended 
by the South American republics to the United States, to send ministers 
to the Panama Congress, was communicated to Congress, with the alleged 
understanding between the several governments that it Avas neither 
expected nor desired that any part should be taken by this country which 
should compromise her neutrality. The state of the finances was repre- 
sented as favorable, the receipts having exceeded the expectations of the 
Secretary of the Treasury, and the reduction of the public debt having 
amounted to nearly eight millions of dollars. Though one thousand and 
one hundred new postoffices had been established during the two pre- 
ceding years, the receipts of the postoffice department had exceeded its 
expenditures by the sum of forty-five thousand dollars. 

Of the topics suggested by the message, many were not acted upon by 
Congress, other topics having been agitated to divert their attention. 
One of the most important of these subjects was a proposed amendment 
of the Constitution, in that part of it which provides for the election of 
the executive. This was introduced in the House during ihe first week 
of the session, by Mr. M'Duffie, of South Carolina, in the shape of a 
resolution to amend the Constitution by establishing an uniform mode of 
electing the President and Vice-President by districts, and declaring the 
sense of the House in favor of preventing the election from devolving 
upon Congress. A resolution, providing for the same object, by a direct 
vote of the people in districts, was brought forward at about the same 
lime in the Senate by Mr. Benton, of Missouri. This amendment was 
not afterwards called up for discussion, and, according to the rule of the 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 263 

Senate, expired with the other unfinished business at the close of the 
session. 

The resolution of Mr. M'Duffie met with a different fate, and gave rise 
to long, animated, and sometimes angry discussions. It was debated 
with much spirit and eloquence, and considerably in detail, by Mr. 
M'Duffie in favor of the amendment, and by Mr. Storrs, of New York, 
in opposition. Many other distinguished members took part in the dis- 
cussion, which finally assumed the character of a debate in answer to an 
executive message, or a resolution to consider the state of the nation. 
Most of the advocates of the amendments declared themselves opposed 
to the administration, and made many pointed allusions to the supposed 
circumstances of the recent election, and to an alleged coalition between 
the friends of the President and the friends of the Secretary of State. 
The fate of the proposed amendments, considering the protracted discus- 
sion to which they had given rise, was a little singular. On the first, 
which took the election from Congress, one hundred and twenty-three 
voted in the affirmative, and sixty-four in the the negative ; the second, 
in favor of the district system, was rejected by a vote of one hundred 
and one to ninety-one. The subject was then referred to a select com- 
mittee of twenty-four, one from each State, who were unable to agree upon 
any plan to prevent the election from devolving upon Congress, and at 
the end of the session were discharged from any farther consideration of 
the matter. Thus abortively ended the attempt at amending the Consti- 
tution, producing no other effect than that of highly exciting the feelings 
of Congress, and of marshalling parties against and in favor of the 
administration in the most marked and decided manner. 

At the close of the session, a resolution was introduced in the Senate, 
to inquire into the expediency of reducing the executive patronage. This 
resolution was referred to a committee, and six bills were reported by the 
chairman, Mr. Benton, with a view of carrying into detail the principles 
professed in the resolution. The effect of these bills would have been 
to vest in Congress a great portion of executive power, and thus divert 
the attention of the Legislature from its peculiar duties. Of the report 
and bills six thousand w^re ordered to be printed, but the whole matter 
remained subsequently undisturbed, and was buried with the unfinished 
business at the close of the session. 

Another subject, which occupied much of the attention of Congress, was 
the acceptance by the President of the invitation to send commissioners to 
the Congress of Panama, and the nomination of Eichard C. Anderson 
and John Sargeant as Ministers on the part of the United States, und 
William B. Rochester, of New York, as Secretary. These nominations 
were at length confirmed by the Senate, and the necessary appropriations 
made by the House ; not, however, without a long and angry debate, in 
which many reflections were cast upon the executive on account, ns it 
was deemed, of its hasty acceptance of the above invitation. 

The Congress at Panama had for its object the cementing of the 
friendly relations of all the Independent States of America, and was 
designed, also, to serve as a common council in the conflicting stati' of 
things in South America, and as an umpire in their differences. The 



264 JOHN QUINCy adams. 

plan of such a Congress was first introduced into a treaty between Peru 
and Colombia in 1S22. In the three succeeding years the same subject 
was had in view in treaties concluded between Colombia, Chili, Guati- 
mala, and Mexico ; and the Isthmus of Panama was designated as the 
place of meeting of this great American Congress. To this Congress 
an invitation was given, by several of the above States, to the United 
States to send commissioners. Before the meeting of the Federal Con- 
gress, the invitation had been accepted by the President, and, on the 
meeting of that body, the above nomination of ministers was made. The 
message of the President to the Senate, with the documents touching 
this subject, was referred to the committee on foreign relations ; where it 
remained till January 16th, when a report was made condemning the 
mission, and ending with a resolution declaring it to be inexpedient to 
send ministers to Panama. This resolution was negatived after several 
attempts to amend it, and the nominations made by the President of the 
above ministers confirmed. Here it was expected the subject, at least so 
far as the Senate was concerned, would end. A few days after, however, 
a resolution was offered, the import of which was, that the President was 
not constitutionally competent to accept the invitation from the govern- 
ments of the new republics to send ministers to the Panama Congress. 
The resolution, however, was laid upon the table by a vote of twenty- 
three to twenty-one. 

In this debate, Mr. Randolph took occasion to stigmatize the Secretaiy 
of State, for his vote in the Presidential election, in such terms as induced 
that gentleman to demand an explanation of the offensive epithets. Any 
explanation Mr. Randolph pertinaciously refused when called upon by 
Mr. Clay ; and, on the 8th of April, a meeting took place between them, 
which, after two ineffectual fires, resulted in the reconciliation of the 
parties. Much regret prevailed throughout the country that Mr. Clay, 
occupying so high and responsible a station, should have felt himself 
compelled to resort to a mode of settling a controversy so revolting to 
reason, and so unjustifiable in the view of sound morality. 

In the House of Representatives, the committee on foreign relations 
reported in favor of the expediency of sending ministers, and offered a 
resolution to make the necessary appropriations. On the 3d of April 
this resolution was taken into consideration, but it was not until the 21st, 
and after encountering great opposition, that it passed by a vote of one 
hundred and thirty-three to sixty-one. 

The House having thus assented to the policy of the mission by making 
the appropriation, measures were taken to carry it into effect ; and orders 
were transmitted to Mr. Anderson, who was then in Colombia, to attend 
the Congress which was to hold its first meeting in the n.onth of June. 
In his way to Panama, however, a malignant fever, by which he was 
attacked, proved fatal to him. After the decision of Congress, it was 
found too late for Mr. Sargeant to reach Panama in season to attend the 
first meeting of the members of the mission, and accordingly the United 
States were not represented. On the 22d of June, the represeniatives 
of Peru, Mexico, Central America, and Colombia, met, and commenced 
their deliberations. Upper Peru and Chili were not represented. Diplo- 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 265 

matic agents from England and the NetTierlands, though these govern- 
ments had not been invited, were present, but were not permitted to attend 
upon the deliberations of the Congress. The body continued in session 
until the 15th of July, having concluded between themselves as belligerents, 
a treaty of friendship and perpetual confederation, offensive and defensive, 
to which all other American powers might accede within the year. The 
next meeting was ordered to be held at Tacubaya, a village near Mexico, 
in the month of February, 1827. 

During this session of Congress, a bill was introduced making provision 
for the surviving officers of the revolution. After an animated discussion 
of the subject, the bill was virtually lost by being recommitted, by a vote 
of ninety to eighty-five, for the purpose of ascertaining the number of 
revolutionary officers who ought to be provided for by law, and the amount 
necessary to make such provision. 

On the 22d of May, 1826, Congress closed its session. It was a long 
one, but, excepting the sanction given to the Panama mission, nothing of 
great public interest was accomplished. On the 4th of July occurred the 
fiftieth anniversary of American independence, which was celebrated 
throughout the Union with many demonstrations of joy. This day, ren- 
dered memorable by the event which it celebrated, was made still more 
memorable, in the annals of American history, by the death of the two 
venerable Ex-Presidi'nts, Adams and Jefferson. 

The opposition to the administration of Mr. Adams gained strength and 
development by daily increase, and numerous parties combined for its 
support or overthrow in various parts of the country. These parties were 
generally of a geographical character, and in the nineteenth Congress it 
was usually found that the representatives from the southern, took sides 
directly opposed to those from the northern and western States. A reso- 
lution was expressed in some quarters to put down the administration at 
every hazard, no matter what might be its policy, its integrity, or its 
success. The cry of corruption was re-echoed by office seekers, and the 
more desperate portion of the oppositionists, till it began to gain currency 
with the public, and proved sufficient to secure the downfall of the 
administration against which it was raised. 

The Panama mission Avas a fruitful subject of clamor and opposition. 
It was stigmatized as imprudent, unnecessary, at variance with our true 
and prevailing policy, and pregnant with peril. Charges of extravagance 
in expenditures were next brought against the heads of the government, 
and resolutions were introduced in Congress, intimating that the executive 
patronage was too large, and ought to be diminished. The assertion of 
the President of his constitutional authority to appoint, during the vaca- 
tion of Congress, diplomatic agents to transact the foreign business of 
the country, was represented as the assumption of an undelegated power. 
Every opportunity was seized to represent the policy of the federal 
authorities as tending towards consolidation, and as indicating a disposition 
for an expensive and magnificent scheme of government. 

In conformity with the views of the opposition, a nomination for the 
next Presidency was immediately made, and in October, 1825, the Legis- 
lature of Tennessee recommended General Jackson to the suffrages of 
34 



266 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

the people of tlie United States for the highest office in their gift. This 
nomination he formally accepted, in an address delivered Before both 
Houses of the Legislature of that State, in which he resigned his seat 
in the Senate. In this address he plainly intimated his dissatisfaction at 
the result of the late Presidential election, and a willingness to sanction 
an opposition to the administration on the ground of its corrupt origin. 
This same ground had been taken by the adherents of the Vice-President, 
in the discussion of Mr. M'Duffie's proposed amendment of the Consti- 
tution in the first session of the nineteenth Congress. The public mind 
was irritated and exasperated by these charges, which were diffused with 
an industry and zeal to be paralleled only by their baseness. Accusation 
and recrimination became frequent and passionate, and the most bitter 
and indignant feelings took place of the tranquillity that had so long 
reigned in the political world. 

At length the charge of corruption was brought from a responsible 
quarter, and an investigation ensued, which resulted in the complete ac- 
quittal of the parties accused. Directly after the adjournment of the 
eighteenth Congress, a letter appeared, bearing date the 8th of March, 
1825, purporting to relate a conversation with General Jackson, in which 
he said that a proposition had been made to him by Mr. Clay's friends 
to secure his election to the Presidency, on condition that Mr. Adams 
should not continue as Secretary of State. This proposition was said to 
have been indignantly repelled. A correspondence immediately ensued 
on this subject between Mr. Beverly, the author of the letter in question, 
and General Jackson, in which an account of the negociation alluded to 
was given at length, and the General disclaimed making any charge 
against Mr. Clay, and denied having accused him of being privy to the 
communication. Testimony was now produced by Mr. Clay and his 
friends, which completely refuted the charge of bargain, and hurled it 
with scorn in the teeth of his enemies. It was proved beyond a question 
that in voting for Mr. Adams in the House of Representatives, Mr. Clay 
and his friends had acted with entire consistency, and that any other 
course would have indeed laid them open to the charge of gross and pal- 
pable violation of the principles they had always professed in relation to 
the election. But the accusation had been made to answer the purpose 
for which it was framed, and the opposition to the administration had 
found a permanent basis to build upon. 

Mr. Adams continued to act on the principles which he had professed 
in his inaugural speech, of administering the government without regard 
to the distinctions of party. In the distribution of offices he asked merely 
as to the qualifications of the candidates, not of their political opinions. 
No one suffered by that ruthless policy, which bears so close a resem- 
blance to the proscription of the Roman emperors ; the one striking at 
life itself, the other at the means of life. It is difficult to say which of 
the two is the more cruel, but they are surely equally unjust and vindic- 
tive. The system which makes the presidential chair a mere scramble 
for office, and the chief executive of the nation a dispenser of loaves and 
fishes to political adherents, is too mean, narrow, and contemptible, not 
to be subversive of all the best purposes of government, and must end in 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 267 

the subversion of government itself. The political forum is converted 
into an arena of battle, and the first moments of victory are sacred to 
spoil, devastation, and rapine. The lust of gold stifles the cry of mercy, 
and all the rules of honorable warfare are violated in the fierceness and 
vindictiveness of triumph. Office holders should be content with fulfill- 
ing the duties of their respective stations, and not consider themselves in 
the light of mere partisans, rewarded for upholding a particular man or 
set of men. The people pay them for a different service. Mr. Adams 
regarded this subject in its true bearings, and he acted in it with the 
stern and fearless integrity which has marked the whole course of his 
political life. Regardless of consequences, he was perhaps often injudi- 
cious in the diffusion of executive patronage, and sometimes furnished 
the enemy with artillery to be employed in the destruction of his own 
citadel. 

But however the efforts of the opposition might embarrass the move- 
ments of the administration, they could not retard the rapid progress of the 
country in wealth and prosperity. The great works of internal improve- 
ment, contemplated by the act of April, 1824, were prosecuted with great 
spirit and vigor. Many routes for roads and canals were surveyed, and 
a great mass of topographical knowledge was thus collected at Washington. 
The attention of the general government was also directed to many other 
subjects of internal impfovement, such as the navigation of several 
important rivers, building lighthouses, piers, and removing obstructions 
from bays and harbors. The navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio was 
much improved during this year, by the removal of snags and other im- 
pediments from their channels. An impulse was thus given to the efforts 
of the State Governments, and canals and roads were laid out in various 
directions. Manufacturing establishments flourished with great vigor, 
and gave proofs of becoming lasting sources of wealth and employment 
to the national industry. In the year ending September 30, 1S26, the 
value of domestic manufactures exported amounted to five millions eight 
hundred and fifty-two thousand seven hundred and thirty-three dollars, 
of which one million one hundred and thirty-eight thousand one hundred 
and twenty-five dollars consisted of cotton piece goods. The increase of 
tonnage in the United States during 1826, was one hundred eleven thousand 
and seventy-nine tons, being double the increase of any one of the prece- 
ding twelve years. In conformity with the plan proposed for the settlement 
of the remaining tribes of the aborigines on the west of the Mississippi, pro- 
vision was made for the removal thither of such Indians as were disposed 
to emigrate. Fourteen hundred Shawnees, and about seven hundred 
Creeks removed in this manner to spots selected by themselves. The 
Cherokees refused to cede another foot of land, notwithstanding the 
efforts made by the general government to procure such a cession of ter- 
ritory as would satisfy the claims of Georgia. The north-western Indians 
now gave hostile indications, and attacked and murdered some American 
citizens ; but by the prompt measures adopted by Governor Cass, the 
murderers were given up and tranquillity again restored. 

Congress having adjourned without passing any law for the purpose 
of meeting the restrictive measures of the British government in respect 



268 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

to the colonial trade, the President issued a proclamation, dated March 
17th, closing the ports of the United States against vessels from the 
British colonies, which had been opened by the act of 1822. By this 
measure the British restrictions were completely reciprocated, and the 
President was sustained in it by public opinion. 

The second session of the nineteenth Congress commenced on the 4th 
of December, 1826, when the two Houses were organized in the usual 
manner. The message of the President on this occasion gave a clear 
account of our foreign relations, and made particular reference to the 
controversy with Great Britain on the colonial trade. The death of the 
Emperor Alexander of Russia, was mentioned in terms which the friendly 
feelings displayed by that monarch towards this country seemed to re- 
quire. Our commercial connexions Avith France and tlie Netherlands 
were represented to be placed on a more favorable basis than at the com- 
mencement of the preceding Congress. In the posloffice there had been 
received during the year a surplus of eighty thousand dollars above the 
expenditures. The revenue was sufficiently large to authorize the appli- 
cation of seven millions sixty-seven thousand and thirly-nine dollars 
to the reduction of the public debt, and three millioos nine himdred and 
forty-four thousand three hundred and fifty-nine dollars to the payment 
of interest. A system was recommended for the permanent increase of 
the navy ; the unsettled land claims in Florida and Louisiana : the works 
of internal improvement, reported by the board of engineers ; and the 
attention of Congress was particularly called to the irregularities 
of the Brazilian and Buenos-Ayrean squadrons towards neutral flags. 
The estimates of appropriations for the different departments of the 
government were submitted with the message ; and a system of cavalry 
tactics prepared during the summer under the direction of the War 
Department. These were the most important topics suggested by the 
message. 

In this session an ineffectual effort was again made to introduce an 
uniform system of bankrupt laws : the bill reported for this purpose 
having been rejected. Shortly after the commencement of the session, 
an article appeared in a newspaper published at Alexandria, intimating 
that one Mix; who had been engaged in a certain contract Avith the War 
Department, while the Vice-President was Secretary of War, had accused 
him of participating in its profits. This contract had been the subject of 
much animadversion during the admin 1st ration of Mr. Monroe, and the Vice- 
President immediately addressed a letter to the Secretary of the Senate, 
vacating his seat until the subject might be investigated. " Charges have 
been made against me," said Mr. Calhoun, "of the most serious nature, 
and which, if true, ought to degrade me from the high station in which 
I have been placed by the choice of my fellow citizens, and to consign 
my name to perpetual infamy. In claiming investigation of the House, 
I am sensible that, under our free and happy institutions, the conduct of 
public servants is a fair subject of the closest scrutiny and the freest 
remark, and that a firm and faithful discharge of duty affords, ordinarily, 
ample protection against political attacks ; but when such attacks assume 
the character of impeachable offences, and become in some degree official, 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 269 

by being placed among the public records, an officer thus tssailed, how- 
ever base the instruments used, if conscious of innocence, can look for 
refuge only to the hall of the immediate representatives of the people. 
It is thus 1 find myself unexpectedly placed." 

This communication was referred to a select committee, which reported, 
after a laborious examination, that no charge against the Vice-President 
had been placed among the records of the War Department, and perfectly 
exculpated him from having any participation in the profits of that or 
any other government contract. 

The Creek controversy, which might have been considered as happily 
settled by the treaty of 22d of April, was still to continue a subject of 
excitement. Instead of waiting till the tribes had removed from their 
ceded lands, Governor Troup ordered the surveyors employed by him to 
enter the Indian territories and commence the surveys, previous to the 
time prescribed by the treaty for the removal. The Indians resisted 
these encroachments, and the Governor ordered out a force of militia. 
In this posture of afl^airs, the President determined to support the laws 
of the Union by the authority which the Constitution had placed in his 
hands, previously submitting the affair to Congress, to have it determined 
whether it were necessary to resort to any new measures. On the 5th 
of February he transmitted to both Houses of Congress a message, in 
which he gave a plain statement of the facts, and declared his determina- 
tion to enforce the laws, and fulfil the duties of the nation by all the force 
committed for that purpose to his charge. " That the arm of military 
force will be resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other expe- 
dients provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the forbearance 
to employ it at this time. It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to 
determine, whether any further acts of legislation may be necessary or 
expedient to meet the emergency which these transactions may produce." 

Great excitement was displayed in both Houses on the receipt of this 
message. The committee of the Representatives, to which it was refer- 
red, reported that it " is expedient to procure a cession of the Indian 
lands in the State of Georgia, and that until such a cession is procured, 
the law of the land, as set forth in the treaty at Washington, ought to be 
maintained by all necessary, constitutional, and legal means." The 
firmness of the President brought the Governor of Georgia to reason, 
and he addressed a letter to the delegation of that State at Washington, 
submitting to the decision of Congress, and denying any intention of a 
resort to force, except the sovereignty of the State came into collision 
with the United States. A cession of the Creek land in Georgia was 
finally procured, and the dispute in respect to this portion of the Indian 
territory was put at rest. 

A bill for an additional protection on woolens was agitated during this 
session, and finally laid on the table by the casting vote of the Vice- 
President. The defeat of this measure occasioned nmch discussion in 
all parts of the Union, and stimulated the friends of this branch of 
industry to renewed exertions. In Pennsylvania a State Convention was 
proposed, to choose delegates to attend a general Convention at Harris- 
burg on the 30th of July, 1827. Other States answered with alacrity 



270 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

to this invitation, and a meeting was held at the appointed time, of dele- 
gates in the highest degree respectable in point of talent, weight of 
character, and dignity of standing. The reports of their committees, on 
various subjects connected with domestic industry, exhibited the impor- 
tance and the necessity of increased protection, and a memorial to Con- 
gress, drawn up in conformity with these views, was unanimously adopted. 
These proceedings were received in the southern States with much dis- 
satisfaction. They were represented as at war with their best interests, 
and with the spirit of the Constitution. No means were omitted to raise 
a strong excitement in the community, in opposition to all increase of the 
woolen duty ; but at the time of the twentieth Congress, the public mind 
was more and more impressed with the opinion that effectual measures 
would be resorted to for the relief of this branch of national industry. 

We have not room for a detailed account of the various measures of 
Mr. Adams's administration. During the whole of it the United States 
enjoyed uninterrupted peace ; for the foreign policy of the government 
had nothing in view but the maintenance of our national dignity, the 
extension of our commercial relations, and the successful prosecution of 
the claims of American citizens upon foreign governments. 

A portion of these claims upon Sweden and Denmark, was obtained, 
and the claims Avhich arose against the Brazilian government, during the 
war between that power and Buenos Ayres, were speedily adjusted by 
the liquidation of the claims. The exorbitant pretensions of Great Britain, 
respecting the West India trade, were resisted, although at the expense 
of the direct trade betv>?een the United States and the British islands. 

The difficulties which occurred in carrying into effect the treaty of 
Ghent, relative to deported slaves, and other property taken away, having 
been found insurmountable, the sum of one million two hundred and four 
thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars, which was amply sufficient, 
was obtained from the British government in satisfaction of these claims. 
A convention was also concluded with that government, and a mode pro- 
vided for the peaceable settlement of the long pending, and finally 
threatening dispute concerning the north-east boundary of the United 
States. The treaty of commerce between the United States and Great 
Britain, and the convention effecting a temporary compromise of their 
conflicting claims to the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, both of 
which expired by their own limitation, October 20th, 1828, Avere renewed 
for an indefinite period, with liberty to either party to terminate them, on 
giving one year's notice. Some commercial difficulties, which grew out 
of an adherence of the government of the Netherlands, to the principles 
of discriminating duties, were adjusted to mutual satisfaction. New 
treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce, in which the liberal princi- 
ples maintained by the United States, in her commercial and foreign 
policy, were generally recognized, were concluded with Colombia, Austria, 
Sweden, Denmark, Guatemala, and the Hanseatic league. 

It was, however, in the domestic policy of the government, that the 
character of the administration was most strongly displayed. During it« 
continuance in office, new and increased activity was imparted to those 
powers vested in the Federal Government, for the developement of 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 271 

the resources of the country ; and the public revenue liberally expended 
in prosecuting those national measures, to which the sanction of Congress 
had been deliberately given, as the settled policy of the government. 

More than one million of dollars had been expended in enlarging and 
maintaining the lighthouse establishment ; half a million in completing 
the public buildings ; two millions in erecting arsenals, barracks, and 
furnishing the national armories ; nearly the same amount had been 
expended in permanent additions to the naval establishment ; upwards 
of three millions had been devoted to fortifying the seacoast ; and more 
than fovxr millions expended in improving the internal communications 
between different parts of the country, and in procuring information, by 
scientific surveys, concerning its capacity for further improvement. In- 
deed, more had been directly effected by the aid of government, in this 
respect, during Mr. Adams's administration, than during the administra- 
tions of all his predecessors. Other sums, exceeding a million, had been 
appropriated for objects of a lasting character, and not belonging to the 
annual expense of the government ; making, in the whole, nearly fourteen 
million dollars, expended for the permanent benefit of the country, during' 
this administration. 

At the same time, the interest on the public debt was punctually paid, 
and the debt itself was in a constant course of reduction, having been dimi- 
nished thirty millions three hundred and seventy-three thousand one 
hundred and eighty-eight dollars during this administration, and leaving 
due, on the 1st of January, 1829, fifty-eight millions three hundred and 
sixty-two thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars. Whilst these 
sums were devoted to increasing the resources, and improving the condi- 
tion of the country, and in discharging its pecuniary obligations ; those 
claims which were derived from Avhat are termed the imperfect obligations 
of gratitude and humanity, were not forgotten. 

More than five millions of dollars were appropriated to solace the 
declining years of the surviving officers of the revolution ; and a million 
and a half expended in extinguishing the Indian title, and defraying the 
expense of the removal, beyond the Mississippi, of such tribes as were 
unqualified for a residence near civilized communities ; and in promoting 
the civilization of those who, relying on the faith of the United States, 
preferred to remain on the lands which were the abodes of their fathers. 

In the condition which we have described, in peace with all the world, 
with an increasing revenue, and with a surplus of five millions one 
hundred and twenty-five thousand six hundred and thirty-eight dollars in 
the public treasury, the administration of the government of the United 
States Avas surrendered by Mr. Adams, who became a private citizen, to 
General Jackson, his successor. 

Thus ended the administration of Mr. Adams, an administration 
marked by definite and consistent policy, and energetic councils, governed 
by upright motives, but from the beginning devoted to the most violent 
opposition, and a signal overthrow. The election which terminated in 
the defeat of Mr. Adams was marked with extreme bitterness, asperity. 



272 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

and profligacy- On both sides the press was virulent, libellous, and 
mean. No privacy was safe, no confidence was sacred; even the tombs 
of the illustrious dead were violated, and their ashes defiled. The 
arts of party warfare were more insidious than the arts of savage 
treachery, and its arms more ruthless than the tomahwk or the scalping 
knife. Calumny and falsehood were the usual resources of the most 
violent partisans, and the only weapons that they never for a moment 
laid aside. The brave soldier was described as a malignant savage, and 
the experienced statesman as a man who had purchased by intrigue a 
position that he was determined to maintain by corruption. It must be 
most sincerely hoped that an era may never again arrive in our history to 
be stamped so indelibly with the brand of shame ; that public opinion will 
ever require of the public press a more decent regard to the charities of 
life, and the duties of truth. 

Since he was succeeded in the Presidency by General Jackson, Mr. 
Adams has still taken an active part in public affairs, and represented 
his native district in Congress. In this body he has taken the stand to 
which his eminent talents and distinguished services fully entitle him. 
His reports on the Bank of the United States and on Manufactures 
are among the ablest papers to be found among the records of our political 
bodies. His speeches are marked with the stern and singular indepen- 
dence which has characterized his whole life, and command the respect 
and attention which must always be awarded to a man of fearless and 
uncompromising integrity. Long may he be spared to the councils of 
the nation — long enough to witness the passing away of party preju- 
dices, and to enjoy the fruition of that fame which has been purchased 
by the devotion of a life to his country. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 

/ 

Andrew Jackson was born on the 15th day of March, 1767. His 
father was an Irishman, who landed at Charleston, South Carolina, in 
1765, and settled at Waxaw, about forty-five miles above Camden, where 
the subject of our narrative was born. Soon after his birth his father 
died, leaving three sons to be provided for by their mother. She appears 
to have discharged the duties devolved upon her, in an exemplary man- 
ner. She had not the means to give all her children a liberal education ; 
but Andrew, whom she intended for the ministry, was sent to school, 
where he continued until the war of the revolution interrupted his studies. 

At the age of fourteen, Andrew Jackson, in company with his brother 
Robert, entered the American camp, and commenced his career in the 
service of his country. He was prompted to this course partly by the 
recommendations of his mother, and partly by the example of his elder 
brother, who had previously joined the army, and fallen a victim to the 
fatigues of his first campaign. Jackson met with no opportunity for the 
display of his military talent during this period. A circumstance, how- 
ever, which strongly illustrates the unyielding and independent obstinacy 
of his character, may be related. In an attack of the British on Waxaw, 
eleven Americans had been taken prisoners, and among them were the 
two Jacksons. The evening after their capture, Andrew was accosted by 
a British officer, who ordered him, in an imperious tone, to clean his 
boots. This order he scornfully refused to obey, alleging that he 
expected such treatment only as was due to a prisoner of war. Incensed 
at his reply, the officer aimed a blow at his head witli u drawn sword, 
which the boy parried by throwing up his left hand, not, however, with- 
out receiving a wound, of v/hich the scar yet remains. His brother, for 
a similar oflence, received a deep and dangerous cut on his head. 

The brothers were conveyed to jail, where their wounds were wholly 
neglected. That of Andrew was slight, but his brother's brought on an 
inflammation of the brain, which, a few days after his liberation, ended 
in death. They were soon exchanged, and returned to their mother, 
who died shortly after her son. Andrew Jackson was thus left alone in 
the world, afiiicted with disease brought on by the hardships he had 
undergone, and with the small-pox, which broke out on him at the same 
time. His life was for a while in great danger. 

On his recovery, he somewhat injudiciously began to squander his 
estate, but at length, foreseeing the consequences of his extravagance, he 
betook himself to a regular course of study. He acquired some know- 
ledge of the learned languages, and continued his literary pursuits 
until he reached the age of eighteen. The pulpit, for which he had 
been designed by his mother, was now abandoned for the bar. He 
35 



274 JACKSON. 

commenced the study of law in 1784, at Salisbury, in North Carolina, 
under the direction of Spruce M'Cay, Esq., and subsequently continued 
it under Colonel John Stokes. At the end of two years, he obtained a 
license from the Judges to practise law, and continued in the State until 
the spring of 1788. 

He had come to the conclusion that this State presented few induce- 
ments to a young attorney. There was no chance of his rising by the aid 
of influential relations. The world was all before him where to choose. 
The ties which bind man to his birthplace, were with him obliterated by 
the death of his kindred. The western parts of Tennessee, about this 
time, offered alluring prospects to young adventurers ; and there we find 
Jackson soon after his departure from North Carolina. The state of society 
in the west, at this period, was not of the most refined or settled descrip- 
tion. Tennessee was then a new, Avild country, principally occupied by 
hardy borderers, among whom knowledge was scarce, and law a mystery. 
Jackson took up his residence at Nashville. There was but one la\\yer in 
the country, and the knavish part of the community had so contrived as 
to retain him in their interest. Many merchants were entirely deprived 
of the means of enforcing the payment of their honest dues. 

In this state of things, Jackson made his appearance at Nash^•ille. 
Applications were immediately made to him for lais professional services, 
and the morning after his arrival he issued seventy writs. His presence 
soon became a terror to the debtors in the place, and he was consequently 
involved in a great many broils, which, however, did not prevent his 
enjoying a profitable practice. Shortly afterwards, he Avas appointed 
Attorney General for the district, in which office he remained for several 
years. Indian depredations being then frequent on the Cumberland, 
Jackson was accustomed to aid actively in garrisoning the forts, and in pur- 
suiug and chastising the enemy. In 1796, he was chosen a member of the 
Convention for framing a Constitution for the State. He was the same 
year elected a member of the House of Representatives in Congress, for 
the State of Tennessee. Wliile in this capacity, it is on record that he gave 
his support to a measure, which oflfered an unhandsome slight to "Wash- 
ington. When that great man was about to retire from his high station^ 
a committee, of which James Madison was a member, drew up an address 
to him, in Avhich his wisdom, firmness, and other eminent qualities, were 
eulogized in the warmest terms. Mr. Giles, of Virginia, moved to ex- 
punge all .expressions of respect, as he wished him to retire, and thought 
that the time for him to do so had arrived. This motion had the support 
of Mr. Jackson. 

In Tennessee his popularity continued to increase, and in 1797 he was 
elected a Senator of Congress. His vote for a repeal of the alien law, 
was his only official act of note while he filled this station. About the 
middle of April, he asked leave to return home on private business. 
Permission was granted, and before the next session he resigned his seat. 
He was but a little more than thirty years of age, and hence, scarcely 
eligible by the Constitution at the time he was elected. 

On his return to Tennessee, he was appointed Major General of the 
militia of that State. He held this commission till the year 1814. Soon 



JACKSON. 275 

after his resignation of his seat in Congress, he was appointed a Judge 
of the Supreme Court of the State. He subsequently resigned this office 
through a distrust of his legal acquirements. He retired to a plantation 
ten miles from Nashville, and for several years nothing occurred to inter- 
rupt his repose. 

The acts of Congress of the 6th of February and July, 1812, autho- 
rized the President to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers. 
General Jackson addressed the militia subject to his orders, and the appeal 
to their patriotism was promptly answered. " Twenty-five hundred brave 
men placed themselves under his command, armed and equipped for war, 
and being duly authorized, he assembled them at Nashville in December. 
The weather, for that latitude, was very severe, and the earth was clad 
in white ; but the hardy backwoodsmen bore their hardships as patiently 
as the trees of their native forests. They descended the Mississippi in 
January, in spite of cold and ice, to Natchez. Much honor is due to their 
chief for his exertions to preserve their ardor unabated, and his endeavors 
to establish discipline among them. But as there was no appearance of 
war in the south-west, their services were not needed, and General Jackson 
received an order from the Secretary of War to disbaiad his troops, and 
deliver the public property in his possession to General Wilkinson. This 
order General Jackson thought fit to disobey. In spite of all opposition, 
he broke up his camp, and marched his troops homeward through the 
forests, sharing their hardships, and setting them an example of untiring 
patience and perseverance. At the close of the march, he disbanded his 
men, who returned to their respective homes. In a letter to the Secre- 
tary of War, he stated, that had he dismissed his forces on receiving the 
order, the sick would have suffered, and many would have been compelled 
by want to enlist in the regular service. In fine, his conduct was ap- 
proved, and the expenses incurred were paid by government." 

The volunteers, who had descended the river, having been discharged 
early in May, there was little expectation that they would again be called 
for. Tennessee was too remotely situated in the interior of the country 
to expect their services would be required for her defence, and hitherto 
the British had discovered no serious intention of waging operations 
against any part of Louisiana. Their repose, however, was not of long 
duration. The Creek Indians, inhabiting the country lying between the 
Chatahochee and Tombigbee, and extending from the Tennessee river to 
the Florida line, had lately manifested strong symptoms of hostility 
towards the United States. This disposition was greatly strengthened 
through means used by the northern Indians, who were then making 
preparations for a war against the United States, and who wished to 
engage the southern tribes in the same enterprise. 

An artful impostor had, about this time, sprung up amongst the Shaw- 
nees, who, by passing for a prophet, acquired astonishing influence among 
his people. He succeeded in exciting a hatred against the inhabitants of the 
United States, v»^hich soon after broke forth in acts of violence. His brother 
Tecumseh was dispatched to the southern tribes, to kindle in them the same 
temper. Hostilities began to spread along the whole line of our southern and 
south-western frontier. A regular communication was kept up between 



276 JACKSON. 

the Creeks or Muscogees and the northern tribes ; whilst frequent depre- 
dations were committed on the border settlers. By one of the incursions, 
in the summer of 1812, several families had been murdered in a shock- 
ing manner, near the mouth of the Ohio ; and, shortly afterwards, another 
party, entering the limits of Tennessee, had butchered two families of 
women and children. These acts Avere not sanctioned by the Creek 
government, for on application to the chiefs, the offenders were punished 
with death. No sooner was this done, however, than the spirit of the 
greater part of the nation suddenly kindled into civil war. War clubs, 
painted red, were seen every where among them, and it was evident that 
some deep and settled purpose of revenge was working in their minds. 

The first ebullition of their rage fell upon those of their countrymen 
who were known to be peaceably disposed towards the United States. 
Incited by Wetherford, one of the principal chiefs, they then proceeded to 
the attack of Fort Mimms in the territory of Mississippi. This fort 
contained at that time about one hundred and fifty men, besides a con- 
siderable number of women and children, Avho had fled there for protection. 
The Indians carried it by assault. The slaughter was indiscriminate. 
Nearly three hundred persons, including women and children, were put 
to death Avith the most savage barbarity. But seventeen of the whole 
number in the fort escaped to tell of the dreadful catastrophe. 

The news of this outrage produced a great excitement in Tennessee. 
A number of respectable citizens convened at Nashville, and after con- 
ferring with the Governor and General Jackson, urged the propriety of 
immediately marching an army into the heart of the Creek nation. This 
measure was recommended to the Legislature, and that body passed a 
law authorizing the executive to call into the field three thousand five 
hundred of the militia. Three hundred thousand dollars were voted for 
the support of these men. By order of the Governor, General Jackson, 
though yet suffering from a fractured arm, (the consequence of an aflfray, 
which has been variously represented,) called out two thousand of 
the volunteers and militia of his division. To this force were joined 
five hundred horsemen, under Colonel Coffee, who was authorized to add 
to his corps as many mounted riflemen as he could gather. He was 
ordered forthwith to proceed to the frontier, and take measures for its 
defence, while General Jackson should collect and organize as many as 
possible of his former army. 

Every exertion was now made to hasten the preparations for a vigorous 
campaign. The day of rendezvous being arrived, and the General not 
being sufficiently recovered to attend in person, he forwarded by his aid- 
do-camp, Major Reid, an address to be read to the troops, accompanied 
by an order for the establishment of the police of the camp. His orders 
may produce a smile on the countenance of the disciplined soldier, but 
to the rude and independent settlers under his command they seemed 
intolerably rigorous and severe. 

For the police of the camp, he announced the following order : 

" The chain of sentinels will be marked, and the sentries posted, pre- 
cisely at ten o'clock to day. 

" No sutler will be suffered to sell spirituous liquors to any soldier. 



JACKSON. 277 

without permission, in writing, from a commissioned officer, under the 
penalties prescribed by the rules and articles of war. 

" No citizen will be permitted to pass the chain of sentinels, after re- 
treat beat in the evening, until reveille in the morning. Drunkenness, 
the bane of all orderly encampments, is positively forbidden, both in 
officers and privates : officers under the penalty of immediate arrest ; and 
privates, of being placed under guard, there to remain until liberated by 
a court martial. 

" At revei'Je beat, all officers and soldiers are to appear on parade, with 
their arms and accoutrements in proper order. 

" On parade, silence, the duty of a soldier, is positively commanded. 

" No officer or soldier is to sleep out of camp, but by permission ob- 
tained." 

On the 7th of October, General Jackson joined his division, and learned 
that the Creeks had detached upwards of eight hundred of their Avarriors 
to fall upon the frontier of Georgia, while the remainder of their forces 
were marching upon Huntsville. On the 9th, therefore, he set his army 
in motion. They reached Huntsville that day, by a forced march, and 
on the morrow formed a junction with Colonel Coffee's regiment, on the 
Tennessee river. Here they rested several days, during which General 
Jackson sent scouts to reconnoitre the Black Warrior river, a tributary 
of the Tombigbee, on which were several Creek villages. This delay 
was occasioned by the failure of an expected supply of provisions. 

While the army was thus inactive, a messenger arrived from Chinnaby, 
a chief of the friendly Creeks. He brought intelligence that Chinnaby's 
encampment, near Ten Islands, on the Coosa, was threatened by the 
enemy, and solicited relief. This information induced the General to 
march to Thompson's creek, a small branch of the Tennessee, where he 
had reason to believe he might be met by the expected supply. He was 
the more inclined to action, that the scarcity of provisions depressed the 
spirits of his half disciplined troops. But he was again disappointed, 
and his letters to different quarters, soliciting the desired aid, failed of 
their effect. Even the planters of the frontier, who had a vital interest 
in the success of his operations, neglected to assist the army contractors. 
In this embarrassing situation, another messenger from Chinnaby arrived, 
to urge the necessity of an immediate movement, as the enemy was ad- 
vancing upon him in great force. This information caused the army to 
move again. 

Near Ten Islands General Jackson was met by Chinnaby, who informed 
him that he was within sixteen miles of the hostile Creeks, who were 
assembled to the number of a thousand, to oppose his march. Hence 
Colonel Dyer was sent with a competent force to attack the village of 
Littafutchee, on a branch of the Coosa. This done, the army set forward 
once more, and reached the islands of the Coosa without opposition, thus 
proving the report of Chinnaby to have been unfounded. Here Colonel 
Dyer rejoined, having accomplished his object. He had burned Littafutchee, 
with little or no loss on his own side, and brought back with him twenty- 
nine prisoners, men, women, and children. The scouting parties now 
began to bring in prisoners, and cattle and corn taken from the enemy. 



278 JACKSON. 

Tlie first week in November, information was received that a conside- 
rable body of the Muscogee warriors had taken a position at the village 
of Tallushatches, on the opposite side of the Coosa. Colonel Coffee was 
sent to attack them at the head of nine hundred mounted men. He 
forded the Coosa under the direction of an Indian guide, and advanced 
on Tallushatches. The Muscogees were aware of his approach, and 
prepared to meet it as became men. They struck the war drum, sung 
the war song, and by their savage war whoop gave notice that they were 
prepared for battle. Within a mile and a half of the village Colonel 
Coffee halted, divided his force into two bodies, and then advanced in 
such a Avay as to surround the enemy, who remained quiet in the 
buildings. Seeing this, the commander had recourse to a feint. He sent 
forward two companies to decoy the Indians from their cover. No sooner 
had these deployed into line in front of the village, and fired a few shots, 
than the savages boldly charged and drove them back on the main body, 
which opened a general fire and charged in turn. The Muscogees retir- 
ed, resisting obstinately all the way, till they reached their village, where 
they stood fast, and a desperate conflict ensued. The Indians did not 
ask quarter, and when shot down continv.d to fight on the ground as 
long as their breath lasted. Many of their wives assisted in the defence, 
and emulated the bravery of their partners. The Tennesseans revenged 
the slaughter of Fort Mimms, by slaying all the men, and some women 
and children. Not one of the savages escaped : their total loss in killed 
was upwards of a hundred and eighty, and eighty-four women and chil- 
dren were taken alive. On the other side, five of the whites were killed 
outright, and forty-one were wounded. 

When Colonel Coffee had rejoined the main body. General Jackson 
resolved to build a fort and establish a depot at Ten Islands. The forti- 
fication was named Fort Strother. 

On the evening of the 7th, a runner arrived from Talladega, a fort of 
the friendly Indians, thirty miles beloAV, with information that the enemy 
had encamped before it in great numbers, and would certainly destroy it 
unless immediate assistance should be rendered. Jackson did not hesi- 
tate to march to their assistance, with all his disposable force, amounting 
to twelve hundred infantry and eight hundred mounted men. The troops 
crossed the river that very night, each horseman carrying a foot soldier 
behind him, though the Coosa is here six hundred yards wide. The 
whole night was consumed in this operation, yet the army continued its 
march with unabated ardor, and by the next evening arrived within six 
miles of the enemy. At night an express arrived from General White, 
with the news that that officer had not been able to move to the protection 
of Fort Strother, according to Jackson's desire, having received a counter 
order from General Cocke, to march to the mouth of Chatouga Creek. 
This intelligence, that his rear was left unprotected, caused General 
Jackson to decide on attacking the enemy without delay, lest by a change 
of their policy, his depot should be carried in his absence. Orders were 
given accordingly. 

At four in the morning, the army moved, in order of battle. The 
infantry advanced in three columns, and the cavalry followed, while the 



JACKSON. 279 

wings were protected by flankers. The advance, consisting of four com- 
panies, marched four hundred yards in front, under Colonel Carroll. By 
seven, the army was within a mile of the enemy, and the columns de- 
ployed into line, while the cavalry made a circuit round the enemy's 
flank, so as to leave them small chance of escape. 

About eight, the advanced guard, having approached a small thicket 
of underbrush, received a sharp volley. They returned it, and retreated 
upon the centre, according to their orders, it being the policy of the 
General to draw the Indians from their cover. The Indians, elated by 
this apparent success, raised the war whoop, and fell furiously on the left 
wing, tomahawk in hand. This movement had nearly decided the battle, 
for several companies gave way before their onset, and the officer ordered 
by General Jackson to throw his troops into the gap, did not execute the 
command. The General promptly supplied their place with the reserve, 
which, with the assistance of the broken troops, who began to rally, 
checked ihe advance of the savages. The line now delivered an unbroken 
fire, and in fifteen minutes the Creeks gave way at all points and fled. 
The cavalry of the left wing made great slaughter of them, and numbers 
fell in the pursuit, which continued three miles. The troops behaved as 
might have been expected from the volunteers of Tennessee, and that is 
a sufficient encomium. 

In this battle a thousand and eighty of the Creeks were engaged ; of 
whom three hundred Avere left dead on the field, and about as many more 
were slain in their flight. The loss of the Americans was fifteen killed, 
and nearly a hundred wounded, many mortally. The results of the 
action were, the relief of the friendly Indians at Talladega, an increase 
of confidence in themselves and their General on the part of the Tennes- 
seans, and the discomfiture of the hostile Creeks. 

The condition of his posts in the rear, and a want of provisions, com- 
pelled General Jackson and his men to return. Accordingly, having 
buried his dead, and provided litters for the wounded, he reluctantly 
commenced his return march on the morning succeeding the battle. He 
confidently hoped, from the previous assurances of the contractors, that, 
by the time of his return to Fort Strother, sufficient supplies would have 
arrived there : but to his surprise, he found that not a particle had been 
forwarded since his departure, and that what had been left was already 
consumed. Even his private stores, brought on at his own expense, and 
upon which he and his staff' had hitherto wholly subsisted, had been, in 
his absence, distributed amongst the sick by the hospital surgeon, who 
had been previously instructed to do so, in the event their wants should 
require it. A few dozen biscuit, which remained, on his return, were 
given to the hungry applicants, without being tasted by himself or family, 
who were probably not less hungry than those who were thus relieved. 
A scanty supply of indifferent beef, taken from the enemy, or purchased 
of the Cherokees, was now the only support afforded. Thus left destitute, 
Jackson, (says his biographer, Eaton,) with the utmost cheerfulness of 
temper, repaired to the bullock pen, and, of the offal there thrown away, 
provided for himself and staff", what he was pleased to call, a very com- 
fortable repast. Tripes, however, hastily provided in a camp, without 



280 JACKSON. 

bread or seasoning, can only be palatable to an appetite very highly 
whetted ; yet this constituted, for several days, the only diet at head- 
quarters ; during which time, the General seemed entirely satisfied with 
his fare. 

In this campaign, a soldier one morning, with a Avobegone counte- 
nance, approached the General, stating that he was nearly starved, that 
he had nothing to eat, and could not imagine what he should do. He 
was the more encouraged to complain, from perceiving that the General, 
who had seated himself at the root of a tree, waiting the coming up of 
the rear of the army, was busily engaged in eating something. The 
poor fellow was impressed with the belief, from what he saw, that Avant 
only prevailed among the soldiers, and that the officers, particularly the Ge- 
neral, were liberally supplied. He accordingly approached him with great 
confidence of being relieved. Jackson told him, that it had always been 
a rule with him never to turn away a hungry man when it was in his 
power to relieve him. I will most cheerfully, said he, divide with you 
what I have ; and, putting his hand to his pocket, he drew forth a few acorns, 
from which he had been feasting, adding, it was the best and only fare 
he had. The soldier seemed much surprised, and forthwith circulated 
amongst his comrades, that their General was actually subsisting upon 
acorns, and that they ought no more to complain. 

Discontent now began to spread through the camp of General Jack- 
son, and at length burst into open revolt. The officers and soldiers of 
the militia determined to abandon their posts, and return to their homes. 
Jackson, apprised of their resolution, determined to oppose it at all hazard. 
In the morning, when they were about to carry their design into execution, 
he drew up the volunteers in front of them, with orders to oppose their 
departure. The militia, fearing to persist in their purpose, quietly aban- 
doned it and returned to their quarters. 

The next day presented a singular scene. The volunteers, who, the 
day before, had been the means of detaining the militia, now began 
likewise to mutiny. Their opposition to the departure of the militia was 
merely a pretence to escape suspicion, for they silently wished them 
success. They noAV determined to move away in a body, believing that 
no one Avould oppose them. As they were about to quit the camp, the 
militia turned the tables on them, expressing a fixed determination to 
obey the General's orders by enforcing their stay at the point of the 
bayonet. So Avell had Jackson contrived to make their mutual jealousies 
suliserve his own ends. Thus situated, the volunteers had an option to 
remain, or to turn their weapons against their brethren in arms. They 
chose the former alternative. However, the complaints of the cavalry 
were net to be silenced ; their forage was entirely exhausted, and they 
had no prospect of obtaining more. General Jackson listened to their 
petition to be permitted to return home, and granted it, on condition that 
they would rejoin him when required. 

The most urgent solicitations of General Jackson could not suppress the 
discontent which still prevailed among his troops. Even his promise that 
if the supplies should not arrive within two days, the forces should al 
march homeward together, had no effect. The officers of the volunteer 



JACKSON. 281 

brigade declared that nothing short of marching the army immediately 
back to the settlements, could prevent a forcible desertion of the camp, by 
the soldiers. The officers of the militia expressed their willingness to 
remain a few days longer ; but the General was compelled to suffer a 
regiment of volunteers to leave the camp, under the condition, however, 
that, after satisfying their wants, they should return and act as an escort 
to the provisions. , 

Two days had elapsed since the departure of the volunteers, and no 
supplies had arrived. The militia earnestly demanded the fulfilment of 
the promise which had been made, that they should be marched back to 
the settlements. This was to Jackson a moment of deep dejection. "If 
only two men will remain with me," he exclaimed, " I will never abandon 
this post." Captain Gordon, of the spies, replied, " You have one, Gene- 
ral ; let us look if we can't find another," and he soon succeeded in 
procuring one hundred and nine volunteers. Leaving this garrison 
behind, Jackson, with the rest of his army, set out towards Deposit. 
They had not proceeded more than ten or twelve miles, when they met 
a convoy of the long expected commissary's stores. This sight was as 
unwelcome to the soldiers as it was grateful to their chief. So great 
was their aversion to returning, that mutiny again displayed itself in 
their ranks. One company had revolted, and was already moving off in 
the direction of home. They had proceeded some distance before infor- 
mation of their departure was conveyed to Jackson. Irritated at their 
conduct, the General pursued them until he came near a part of his 
staff and a few soldiers, who, with General Coffee, had halted about a 
quarter of a mile ahead. He ordered them to form immediately acrosa 
the road, and to fire on the mutineers if they attempted to proceed. The 
execution of this order caused the deserters to retreat precipitately to the 
main body. Here it was supposed that the affair would end, and that 
further opposition would cease. But a mutinous disposition began pre- 
sently to show itself throughout the whole brigade. Jackson, having 
advanced towards them, while his guard were at some distance, found on 
his arrival a much more extensive mutiny than that which had been just 
quelled. Almost the whole brigade had put itself in an attitude for moving 
forcibly off. 

Jackson now made a signal display of energy and decision. He was 
still Avithout the use of his left arm ; but, seizing a musket, and resting 
it on the neck of his horse, he threw himself in front of the column, and 
threatened to shoot the first man who should attempt to advance. In this 
situation, he was soon after joined by Major Eeid and General Coflfee, 
who placed themselves by his side, and abided by the result. For many 
minutes the column preserved a sullen and hesitating attitude. At length, 
they turned quietly round, and agreed to return to their posts. 

About the22d of November, a deputation arrived from the Creek tribes 
called Hillabees, to sue for peace. They had suffered severely at Talla- 
dega, and were now ready to submit to whatever terms the General 
might impose. He replied that they must restore the prisoners and 
property they had taken, whether from the whites or the friendly Creeks, 
and surrender the persd ns concerned in the massacre at Fort Mimms. 
36 



282 JACKSON. 

With this ansvvei, the Hillabee ambassadors returned to their villages on 
the 24th of the month. 

That very night the Hillabees were attacked in their huts by the Ten- 
nessee militia, under General White. Sixty of them were killed, upwards 
of two hundred and fifty were made prisoners, and their villages were 
utterly destroyed. The officers of the eastern division, jealous of General 
Jackson's reputation, and unwilling to lend their aid to raise it, had 
refused or neglected to co-operate with him throughout the campaign. 
Such is often the harmony of militia operations. In this instance, the 
result is to be deplored. The Hillabees believed themselves assailed by 
Jackson, to whom they had offered his choice of terms, and from whom 
they ha A received a promise of amnesty. Under these circumstances, 
they concluded that peaceful conduct could not defend them from open 
force or treachery, and till the final cessation of h-ostilities they waged a 
war of extermination. In no instance did they ask or accept quarter. 

The clamors of the troops were by no means abated during their resi- 
dence at Fort Strother. The want of food was indeed obviated by the 
arrival of sufficient stores, but they resolved, if possible, to obtain a 
discharge. They insisted that the period for which they had undertaken 
to serve would terminate on the 10th of December, that making a year 
since the commencement of their engagement. Although they had been 
unemployed during the greater part of this time, they very reasonably 
contended that this circumstance did not authorize any deductions from 
the regular period of their engagement. General Jackson thought other- 
wise : he replied, that " the law of Congress, under which they had been 
accepted, requiring one year's service out of two, could contemplate 
nothing less than an actual service of three hundred and sixtj^-five days; 
and, until that had been performed, he could not, unless specially autho- 
rized, undertake to discharge them." 

On the evening of the 9th, Jackson was informed that a whole brigade 
of volunteers was again preparing forcibly to move off. He immediately 
issued the following general order : 

" The commanding General being informed that an actual mutiny 
exists in his 6amp, all officers and soldiers are commanded to put it down. 

"The officers and soldiers of the first brigade will, without delay, 
parade on the west side of the fort, and await further orders." The 
Ertillery company, with two small fieldpieces, being posted in the front 
and rear, and the militia, under the command of Colonel Wynne, on the 
eminences in advance, were ordered to prevent the departure of the 
volunteers. This formidable opposition compelled the deserters to return 
once more to their pests. But although bafiled in this manner, their 
dissatisfaction at remaining could not be quelled, and Jackson was finally 
induced to issue an order to General Hall, to march his brigade to Nash- 
ville. 

Meanwhile the cavahry and mounted riflemen, who, under an express 
stipulation to return and complete the campaign, had been permitted to 
retire into the settlements, had, at the time appointed, reassembled in the 
neighborhoo4 of Huntsville. But, catching the infection of discontent 
from the infantry, tliey began now to clamor with equal zeal for a dis- 



JACKSON. 283 

charge. No representations could induce them to remain; and they 
finally abandoned their posts tumultuously, and returned to their respective 
homes. Thus Jackson was deserted by almost his whole original 
army, and remained with only about thirteen hundred men of the eastern 
division. The term of service of most of these had nearly expired, and 
they claimed their discharge as due on the 14th of December. 

" The Governor of Tennessee had ordered a levy of twenty-five hundred 
men from the second division, to assemble at Fayetteville on the 28th of 
January, to serve for a period of three months. General Cocke was also 
required to furnish his quota. General Roberts brought two hundred 
men to Fort Strother, but these stipulated that they should be discharged 
at the end of three months. Nevertheless, fearing the resolute disposi- 
tion of General Jackson, they immediately broke up and deserted to a 
man. Orders were immediately issued to pursue and apprehend them, 
and finding themselves likely to be compelled, they returned without 
further ado. 

" The time had now come, when those of the militia who had remained 
in the service, claimed to be discharged, and they declared their deter- 
mination to return home, whether their claim should be allowed or not. 
General Jackson, therefore, contrary to the advice of Governor Blount, 
issued an order forbidding all persons under his command to leave the 
camp without his written permission, on pain of death. The order was 
disregarded. The officer of the guard, Lieutenant Kearly, and all his 
sentinels, left their posts, and the officer refused to surrender his sword 
or submit to arrest. He formed his company, and was about to march 
them homeward, when a company arrived to stay his proceedings. 
Kearly prepared to fight his way through all opposition, and his com- 
pany would have seconded him, had not General Jackson instantly 
repaired to the spot. He presented a pistol to the subaltern's breast, 
compelled him to give up his weapon, and placed him under guard. 
But on his submission and repentance, Kearly was released from arrest 
and again received into favor. While this was going on, the rest of the 
brigade left the camp and proceeded toward home, leaving behind them 
but a single regiment of militia, whose time had nearly expired. The 
General sent a written address after them, but it did not bring back one 
individual. 

" In the meanwhile, the Muscogees were sustaining reverses calculated 
to depress their spirits and facilitate future operations against them. On 
the 4th of December they were defeated by the Georgia militia, under 
General Floyd, at Autossee, a town on the Talapoosa river. The strength 
of eight several towns had been gathered for the defence of this spot. 
Upwards of two hundred of the savage warrioxs were slain, and two 
villages were destroyed. General Clairborne also destroyed the town of 
Eccancacha, and routed its defenders with loss, on the 1st of January, 
1814. 

" On the 13th of January, eight hundred and fifty of the newly raised 
Tennessee volunteers arrived at Fort Strother. They had agreed to 
serve for sixty days only, and no persuasion could induce them to extend 
the term. They were organized in two mounted regiments. Two days 



284 JACKSON. 

after, these troops took up the line of march for Talladega, followed by 
General Jackson with his staff, an artillery company, three companies of 
foot, and a company of volunteer officers, nine hundred and thirty in all. 
At Talladega they were joined by two or three hundred friendly Creeks 
and Cheroket^s. With this force, the chief directed his march to Emuck- 
faw river, where he Avas advised that a large body of the enemy had 
collected. On the night of the 21st he encamped Avithin three miles of 
them. 

"At daybreak the next morning, the Creek warriors drove in the 
sentinels, and vigorously charged the left flank. The assault was bravely 
given, bravely received, and the battle was maintained with great spirit 
on both sides for half an hour. When light broke, a general charge 
forced the Muscogees at every point, and as the Indian allies joined in 
the pursuit, the slaughter was considerable. General Coffee was then 
dispatched with four hundred men to destroy the Creek encampment, but 
found it too strong and too well garrisoned to render the attempt prudent. 
He therefore returned to the camp. 

" Half an hour after his return, a party of the enemy attacked the 
picket guard on the right flank, as a feint to draw the attention of the 
whites thither, and thus make them expose the left wing. The savages 
were disappointed. General Jackson ordered General Coffee to defend 
the right with the assistance of two hundred of the Indian allies, and 
repaired himself to the left wing. The shock of the enemy here was 
sudden and violent, but it was sustained with a gallantry not to have been 
expected in raw recruits. The Creeks maintained the battle after the 
fashion of their ancestors, availing themselves of every cover afforded by 
the broken ground, lying doAvn to load and rising to fire. After a few 
voUies, the left wing again charged, the Muscogees again fled, and were 
again pursued ; but in the mean time General Coffee was hard pressed, 
the Indians directed to aid him, having mistaken their orders. By some 
misapprehension not explained, only fifty men followed him to repel the 
first attack, and he found the enemy posted to groat advantage. They 
occupied a grove of pines intermingled with brushwood, forming as good 
a cover as an Indian warrior could desire. He ordered his men to dis- 
mount and charge them, and they were driven to the bank of a stream, 
where they concealed themselves among the reeds, whence he could not 
dislodge them. He then retired, and the Indians again emerged from 
their cover, and engaged him on more equal terms. Happily for him, 
their number was not great, and he was able to stand his ground till 
General Jackson ordered Jem Fife, the chief of the friendly Creeks, to 
go to his assistance with a hundred and fifty warriors. It Avas promptly 
done. General Coffee and the Creek chief charged in concert, and the 
enemy broke, losing forty-five men in the charge and pursuit. 

" Having buried the dead and attended to the wounded, the camp was 
fortified ; for the Muscogee operations had been so well planned, and 
tliey had fought with so much determination, that there was reason to 
believe they would not let the matter rest thus. No attack occurred 
during the night, and in the morning the army commenced its retreat to 
Fort Strother. Through the day they were not molested, but the spies 



JACKSON. 285 

reported that the enemy hovered on the flanks and rear. This induced 
the chief to believe he should be attacked in the night, or that an 
ambush would be prepared for him. Nevertheless, this night also passed 
without alarm. 

" There was a defile in front between two hills, where a small stream 
Avas to be crossed, a place every way fit for an anil)uscade, and admirably 
adapted to the peculiar warfare of the Indians, lo avoid being taken here 
at a disadvantage, the General resolved to pass the stream at another ford, 
where there was nothing to obstruct the evolutions or fire of his troops. 
Before the enemy was aware of this change of route, the advanced 
giiard, the wounded, and a part of the centre division had crossed the 
stream. The single piece of artillery had just entered the ford when 
the battle cry of the Muscogees was heard behind, and the rear guard 
was charged. The General had taken his measures to repel such an 
assault wisely. The rear column had received orders to stand fast, while 
the right and left column should wheel on their pivot, recross the stream 
above and below, and fall upon the flanks and rear of the enemy. For 
once, he had overrated the firmness of his men, and this had like to have 
been the last of his battles. The rear guard gave way, on receiving the 
attack, and retired upon the rear division, the right and left columns of 
which broke in confusion, drawing with them a part of the centre column. 
Twenty-five men only maintained their ground, while an appalling con- 
fusion and consternation pervaded the rest of the army. In such circum- 
stances, it is indeed wonderful that the whole army was not utterly 
destroyed. 

" The enemy's balls fell thick and fast on the American ranks. Cap- 
tain Hamilton had fallen, Captains Bradford and McGavock were down. 
Lieutenant Armstrong of the artillery had but life left to beg his men to 
save his cannon, and many more of inferior degree gave up their lives 
here. The Muscogees were swarming like bees to the attack, and there 
were none to withstand them but the left wing, the artillery men, a com- 
pany of spies, and a few that remained of the rear guard. The artille- 
rists ascended the bank with the most determined obstinacy, loaded their 
gun under a shower of lead, and sent repeated charges of grape among 
the savages. The company of spies turned the left flank of the enemy, 
and frustrated a charge they were about to make on the cannon. Many 
instances of individual bravery occurred in this close and desperate 
conflict, in which the spies and artillerists earned all praise. They kept 
the enemy at bay, while the General, by dint of strenuous exertion, 
restored order in his broken ranks. The Muscogees at last fled, throwing 
off' all incumbrances that could retard their flight. 

" In these three several baltles, the Muscogees fought with a courage 
worthy of a better fate, and their loss was accordingly severe. One 
hundred and ninety dead were found on the fields they abandoned ; 
and if we consider that no thorough search was made, and that it is the 
practice of Indians to carry off' and conceal their slain, we must believe 
the number of their killed was double what it appeared. Their spirits 
were depressed by the success of this sanguinary onslaught, and they did 
not further harass the army on its return to Fort Strother. Shortly 



286 JACKSON. 

after, they attacked General Floyd, but were repulsed with considerable 
loss."* 

The army encamped, on the night of the 26th, Avithin three miles of 
Fort Strothor. General Jackson having now terminated this triumphant 
campaign, and hearing that fresh troops might be expected from Tennes- 
see, where the news of his success had much effect, determined to 
discliarge his troops. After detaining his late volunteers, therefore, a 
short time, to complete boats for the transportation of his camp equipage 
and provisions down the Coosa, he directed them to be marched home, 
and there to be honorably dismissed. 

The thirty-ninth regiment of Tennessee militia, about six hundred 
strong, arrived on the 6th of February. The troops from the second 
division, under Brigadier General Johnson, arrived on the 14th; which, 
added to the other forces, constituted about five thousand efficient men. 
The execution of a private, named John Woods, Avho had been sentenced 
by a court martial, on the charge of mutiny, took place about this time. 
The guilt of the man has since been disputed, and the necessity of the 
punishment is very questionable. 

Insubordination and discontent were again prevailing among the troops 
in consequence of a deficiency of provisions. Every thing seemed to 
move in opposition to the wishes of Jackson. The East Tennessee 
brigade had already manifested symptoms of revolt, and it was ascer- 
tained that tliis mutinous spirit had been inflamed by General Cocke, 
who, it appears, was jealous of the increasing fame of Jackson, and 
wished nothing so much as to arrest the intended campaign. General 
Jackson, at length, by constant and unremitted exertions, obtained such 
supplies as he believed would be necessary to enable him to proceed. 
At the mouth of Cedar Creek he established Fort Williams. On the 
24th of March, 1S14. leaving a sufficient force for the protection of the 
fort, under Brigadier General Johnson, he set out for the Tallapoosa, by 
the way of Emuckfaw. His whole effective force was something less 
than three thousand men. At ten in the morning of the 27th, after a 
march of fifty-two miles, he reached the village of Tohopeka. The 
enemy had collected here, in considerable numbers, to give him battle. 
The warriors from Oakfusky, Hillabee, Eufalee, and New Youcka, 
amounting to nearly one thousand two hundred, were at this place await- 
ing his approach. They had chosen an admirable spot for defence. 
Situated in a bend of the river, which almost surrounded it, it was 
accessible only by a narrow neck of land. This tliey had strove to ren- 
der impregnable, by placing large timbers and trunks of trees horizontally 
on each other, leaving but a single place for entrance. From a double 
row of port-holes, they were enabled to fire in perfect security behind it. 
General Coffee, with mounted infontry and friendly Indians, had been 
dispatched, early in the morning, to encircle the bend, and manoeuvre in 
such a way, as to divert the savages from the real point of attack. He 
was particularly directed to prevent their escape to the opposite shore in 
their canoes, with which, it was represented, the whole shore was lined. 



* Memoir of Jackson, by a Freeman. 



JACKSON. ^ 287 

Tlie General posted the rest of his army in front of the breastwork. He 
began to batter their breastworks with his cannon. Muskets and riflea 
were used, as the Indians occasionally showed themselves. The signals, 
which were to announce that General Coffee had gained his destination, 
were given. The soldiers hailed it with acclamations, and advanced 
with the intrepidity of veterans. The thirty-ninth regiment, led on by 
their skilful commander, Colonel Williams, and the brave, but ill-fated. 
Major Montgomery, and the militia, amidst a sheet of fire that poured 
upon them, rushed forward to the rampart. Here an obstinate and 
destructive conflict ensued. In firing through the port-holes on either 
side, many of the enemy's balls were welded between the muskets and 
bayonets of our soldiers. At this moment, Major Montgomery leaping 
on the rampart, called to his men to follow him. Scarcely had he spoken, 
when he was shot through the head, and fell. 

Our troops had now scaled the ramparts, and the savages fled before 
them, concealing themselves under the brush and timber, which abounded 
in the peninsula, whence they still continued a galling fire. Here they 
were charged and dislodged. Their next alternative was their canoes ; 
but they perceived that a part of the army lined the opposite shore, and 
precluded escape in that quarter. They, that still survived the conflict, 
leaped down the banks, and took shelter behind the trees, which had been 
felled from their margin. An interpreter with a flag here approached 
them, to propose a surrender ; but he was fired upon and severely wounded 
in the breast. Orders were now given to dislodge them. The brush 
and trees abotit them were set on fire by lighted torches, thrown down 
among them, and the blaze drove them from their hiding places, and 
exposed them to view. The slaughter continued until night concealed 
the combatants from one another. A few of the savages, who had avoided 
the havoc of the day, escaped under the shelter of night. The friendly 
Indians contributed much to the completeness of the victory. Several 
of the Cherokees and Russell's spies swam across the river in the heat 
of the action, and fired the Indian town in the rear of the foe. 

This battle gave a death-blow to the hopes of the hostile Indians, and 
they did not afterwards venture to make any decided stand. Their best 
and their bravest fell. Few escaped the carnage. Many were thrown 
into the river while the battle raged. TVIany were destroyed by Coffee's 
brigade in endeavoring to cross it ; and five hundred and fifty-seven were 
found dead on the field. Among the slain were three of the prophets. 
These impostors inflamed the delusive confidence of the savages to the 
last. Monohoe, one of the chief of them, fell with a cannon shot in his 
mouth, at the very moment when uttering his incantations, and urging 
them to stand to the fight. Four men only, and three hundred women 
and children, were taken prisoners. The small number of men who 
surrendered proves, in an impressive manner, the decperation with which 
they fought. The assault by the troops from East Tennessee upon the 
Hillabee clans, after they had sued for peace on our own terms, had 
caused them to relinquish all dependence upon our humanity, and to rely 
solely upon their own bravery and despair. Our loss, including the friendly 
Indflans, was fifty-five killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded. 



288 JACKSON. 

The General sunk his dead in the river ; for he had found by experi- 
ence, that when tliey were buried, the savages exhumed the bodies, strip- 
ped and scalped them, and exhibited the scalps to their own people, as 
trophies of victory, thus encouraging them to prolong the war. Having 
made the necessary arrangements for the transportation of the wounded, 
he returned safely to Fort Williams. 

Learning that the enemy were collected in considerable numbers at 
Hoithlewaieo, a to\vn not far from the Hickory ground, Jackson was 
desirous to recommence operations as soon as possible. On the 7th, with 
all his disposable force, he commenced his march, with the double view 
of effecting an union with some troops from North Carolina and Georgia, 
who were south of Tallapoosa, and not far distant, and of attacking the 
enemy at Hoithlewalee, on his route. It was some time before he could 
procure coniidential messengers, to convey to the expected troops infor- 
mation of his proposed movements. He wrote by expresses, sent on two 
diflerent routes, that on the 7th, he shonld march with eight days' pro- 
visions for Hoithlewalee, Avhichhe intended to attack on the 11th ; and he 
urged the necessity of proper concert on their part, to meet this movement 
High waters prevented his reaching his destination until the 13th, before 
Avhich tlio enemy had fled. The rear, however, of the retreating savages 
were overtaken, and twenty-five of them made prisoners. 

The next day. the long desired junction with the southern army was 
effected. The Tennessee troops were sorely pressed foi food. Colonel 
Milton, who commamled the southern army, proposed to lend General 
Jackson a temporary supply, but felt himself under no obligation to 
furnish any. To this the General replied, by ordering him to send 
immediately live thousand rations, and to join him by ten the next day at 
Hoithlewalee. The junction was accordingly made. The necessary 
steps were taken to bring down provisions from Fort Decatur, and no 
further inconvenience was experienced from want of supplies. 

The principal chiefs of the Hickory ground tribes, and the Creek chiefs 
generally, came in with protestations of friendship, and sued for peace. 
The answer was, that those of the war party, who wished to put an end 
to the contest, and become friendly, must manifest it by retiring in the 
rear of the army, and settling themselves to the north of Fort Williams. 
Fourteen chiefs were willing to furnish still further oA'idence of their 
desire for peace. They assured the General, that their aged king, Tous- 
hatchee, would have come M'ith them in person, but Avas on his way Avith 
his followers, to settle north of Fort Williams, according to the informa- 
tion which he had received from the General by a flag. 

It was expected that the Indians would make a desperate stand at the 
HickoiT grounds, in the forks near where the Coosa and Tallapoosa 
unite. The army were about to proceed on its march to this place, when 
it was announced to the General, that Colonel Milton's brigiide, Avhich 
had lately united with liim, was not in a situation to move. During the 
previous night some of his wagon horses having strayed off. persons had 
been sent in pursuit, and were expected shortly to return .with them; 
when, it was reported, he would be ready to take up tlie line of march. 
To Jackson, this was a reason for delaying the operations of an army, 



JACKSON. 289 

wliich as yet he liad never learned, and by which he had never been 
influenced. He had, indeed, been frequently made to halt, though from 
very different causes ; from murmurs, discontents, and starvation in his 
camp. He replied to the Colonel's want of preparation, by telling him, 
that, in the progress of his own difficulties, he had discovered a very 
excellent mode of expediting wagons, even without horses ; and that, if 
he would detail him twenty men from his brigade, for every wagon deficient 
in horses, he would guaranty their safe arrival at their place of destination. 
Rather than subject his men to such drudgery, the Colonel preferred to 
dismount some of his dragoons, and thus avoided the necessity of halting 
the army until his lost teams should arrive. 

The army continued its march without meeting any thing to impede 
it. At the old Toulosse fort on the Coosa, a fort was directed to be raised, 
to be named after the commanding General. Here the hostile chiefs 
arrived daily, with proffers of submission. They concurred in their 
statements, that those of the hostile chiefs, who Avere still opposed to 
pear.e, had fled to the gulf coast and Pensacola. To these applications, 
ar .nswer was returned similar to the former. 

To put their friendly professions, which he distrusted, at once to the test, 
Jackson directed them to bring Weatherford to his camp, confined, that he 
might be dealt with as he deserved. This man was one of the first chiefs of 
the nation, and had been a principal actor in the butchery at Fort Mimms. 
Learning from the chiefs what had been required of them by Jackson, he 
determined to proceed to his camp, and make a voluntary surrender of him- 
self. Having reached it, Avithout being known, and obtained admission to 
the General's quarters, he fearlessly stood in his presence, and told him he 
was Weatherford, the chief who had commanded at Fort Mimms, and that, 
desiring peace for himself and for his people, he had come to ask it. 
Somewhat surprised that one who so richly merited punishment should 
so sternly demand the protection which had been extended to others, 
Jackson replied to him, that he was astonished he should venture to 
appear in his presence ; that he was not ignorant of his having been at 
Fort Minims, nor of his inhuman conduct there, for which he well de- 
served to die. " I had directed," continued he, " that you should be 
brought to me confined ; and had you appeared in that way, I should have 
known how to have treated you." 

Weatherford replied, " I am in your power — do with me as you please. 
I am a soldier ; I have done the white people all the harm I could; I 
have fought them, and fought them bravely ; if I had an arm)'-, I would 
yet fight, and contend to the last : but I have none ; my people are all 
gone. I can now do no more than weep over the misfortunes of my 
nation." Moved at the firm and high toned manner of this child of the 
forest, Jackson informed him, that he did not solicit him to lay down his 
arms, or to become peaceable : " The terms on which your nation can be 
saved, and peace restored, have already been disclosed : in this way, and 
none other, can you obtain safety." If, however, he desired still to con- 
tinue the war, and felt himself prepared to meet the consequences, although 
he was then completely in his pdwer, no advantage should be taken of 
that circumstance; he was at perfect liberty to retire, and unite himself 
37 



290 JACKSON. 

with the war party, if he pleased ; but, when taken, his life should pay 
the forfeit of his deeds ; if this were not desired, he might remain where 
he was, and should be protected. 

Nothing dismayed, Weatherford answered, that he desired peace, that 
his nation might, in some measure, be relieved from heir sufferings ; that, 
independent of other misfortunes, gro^^^ng out t j. i. state of war, their 
cattle and grain were all wasted and destroyed, an i their women and 
children left destitute of provjsions. " But," continued he, " I may be 
well addressed in such language now. There was a time when I had a 
choice, and could haA^e answered you : I have none now — even hope has 
ended. Once I could animate my warriors to battle ; but I cannot animate 
the dead. My warriors can no longer hear my voice : their bones are at 
Talladega, Tallushatchee, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. I have not sur- 
rendered myself thoughtlessly. Whilst there were chances of success, 
I never left my post, nor supplicated peace. But my people are gone, 
and I now ask it for my nation, and for myself. On the miseries and 
misfortunes brought upon my country, I look back vriih. deepest sorrow, 
and wish to avert still greater calamities. If I had been left to contend 
with the Georgia army, I would have raised my corn on one bank of the 
river, and fought them on the other; but j^our people have destroyed my 
nation. You are a brave man : I rely upon your generosity. You will 
exact no terms of a conquered people but such as they should accede to : 
whatever they may be, it would now be madness and folly to oppose. If 
they are opposed, you shall find me amongst the sternest enforcers of 
obedience. Those who would still hold out can be influenced only by a 
mean spirit of revenge ; and to this they must not, and shall not, sacrifice 
the last remnant of their country. You have told our nation where we 
might go, and be safe. This is a good talk, and my nation ought to listen 
to It. They shall listen to it." 

Such were the words of Weatherford. The independent and lofty 
course which he afterwards pursued, left no doubt of the sincerity of his 
intentions. Parties were now sent out to enforce submission, hut they were 
useless. The few Creeks who still remained hostile, had indeed retired 
into Florida. Such of the Muscogees as had joined the Americans 
against their brethren were now disposed to A\Teak their fury on the van- 
quished party, especially those who had been present at the massacre of 
Fort Mimms. On one occasion they destroyed a small party who were 
on their way to the camp, with the intention of submitting. General 
Jackson took measures to remedy these disorders, and having established 
a line of posts from Tennessee to the Alabama river, he marched his 
troops home and discharged them. 

In revieAAnng the Creek war, humanity must often recoil from the con- 
templation of the misery and ruin inflicted upon the deluded savages. 
That long forbearance, however, had been extended towards them on our 
side, cannot be disputed. For more than twenty years, the Creeks had 
been perpetrating cruelties and murders along our frontiers. In the war 
between the United States and Great Britain, they believed themselves 
to be allied with an invincible power. Successive defeats at last dispelled 
this illusion. Their courage was broken do\vn, along with their power. 



JACKSON. 291 

and it may confidently be hoped, that they will never again, as a nation, 
raise the tomahawk against us, within the limits of our country. 

On the 22d of May, 1814, General Jackson received the appointment of 
TJ. S. Major General. He was also associated with the commissioners, 
for forming a treaty of peace and of limits with the Creek Indians. In 
defining the extent of territory to be conceded to the Creeks, there was 
no inconsiderable difficulty. It was increased by the intrigues of the 
Cherokee nation, who seemed to expect, as the price of their friendship 
during the war, a considerable portion of country, never before attached 
to their claim. The demands of our government were stated by General 
Jackson. They were canvassed by the Creeks in council, and the nation 
decided against them. The Big Warrior, one of their leading orators 
during the war, had been friendly to the United States. He replied to 
General Jackson in the following manner : 

" The President, our father, advises us to honesty and fairness, and 
promises that justice shall be done : I hope and trust it will be! I made 
this war, which has proved so fatal to my country, that the treaty entered 
into a long time ago, with father Washington, might not be broken. To 
his friendly arm I hold fast. I will never break that bright chain of 
friendship we made together, and which bound us to stand to the United 
States. He was a father to the Muscoga people ; and not only to them, 
but to all the people beneath the sun. His talk I now hold in my hand. 
There sits the agent he sent among us. Never has he broken the treaty. 
He has lived with us a long time. He has seen our children born, who 
now have children. By his direction cloth was wove, and clothes were 
made, and spread through our country ; but the Red Sticks came, and 
destroyed all, — we have none now. Hard is our situation, and you ought 
to consider it. I state what all the nation knows : nothing will I keep 
secret. 

" There stands the Little Warrior. While we were seeking to give 
satisfaction for the murders that had been committed, he proved a mischief- 
maker ; he went to the British on the Lakes ; he came back, and brought 
a package to the frontiers, which increased the murders here. This 
conduct has already made the war party to suffer greatly : but, although 
almost destroyed, they will not yet open their eyes, but are still led away 
by the British at Pensacola. Not so with us : we were rational, and had 
our senses — we yet are so. In the war of the revolution, our father be- 
j-ond the waters encouraged us to join him, and we did so. We had no 
sense then. The promises he made were never kept. We were young 
and foolish, and fought with him. The British can no more persuade us 
to do wrong : they have deceived us once, and can deceive us no more- 
You are two great people. If you go to war, we will have no concern 
in it ; for we are not able to fight. We wish to be at peace with every 
nation. If they offer me arms, I will say to them, You put me in danger, 
to Avar against a people born in our own land. They shall never force 
us into danger. You shall never see that our chiefs are boys in council, 
who will be forced to do any thing. I talk thus, knowing that father 
Washington advised us never to interfere in wars. He told us that those 
in peace were the happiest people. He told us that, if an enemy attacked 



292 JACKSON. 

him, he had warriors enough, and did not wish his red children to help 
him. If the British advise us to any thing, I will tell you — not hide it 
from you. If they say we must fight, I will tell them, No !" 

"You know," said Jackson in reply, " that the portion of country, which 
you desire to retain, is that through which the intruders and mischief-ma- 
kers from the lakes reached you, and urged your nation to those acts of vio- 
lence, that have involved your people in wretchedness, and your country in 
ruin. Tlirough it leads the path Tecunisoh trod, when he came to visit you : 
that path must be stopped. Until this be done, your nation cannot expect 
happiness, nor mine security. I have already told you the reasons for 
demanding it : they are such as ought not — cannot be departed from. 
This evening must determine whether or not you are disposed to become 
friendly. By rejecting the treaty, you will show that you are the enemies 
of the United States — enemies even to yourselves." He admitted it to be 
true, that the war was not ended, yet that this was an additional reason 
why the cession should be made ; that then a line would be drawn, by 
which his soldiers would be enabled to know their friends. " When our 
armies," continued he, " came here, the hostile party had even stripped 
you of your country : we retook it, and now offer to restore it — theirs we 
propose to retain. Those who are disposed to give effect to the treaty 
will sign it. They will be within our territory ; will be protected and 
fed ; and no enemy of theirs, or ours, shall molest them. Those who 
are opposed to it shall have permission to retire to Pensacola. Here is 
the paper : take it, and show the President who are his friends. Consult, 
and this evening let me know who Avill assent to it, and who will not. 
I do not wish, nor will I attempt, to force any of you — act as you think 
proper." 

The Indians deliberated, and at last signed the treaty. The line of 
cession began, where the Cherokee boundary crossed the Coosa, to run 
down that river to the Big Falls, and thence eastwardly to Georgia, 
The country remaining to the Indians, was east and north of this line, 
and contained one hundred and lifty thousand square miles. The country 
ceded to the United States was Avest and north of these limits. A large 
and valuable body of lands was included, known in the west by the name 
of " Jackson's Purchase." It immediately began to be settled with gjeat 
rapidity. But as soon as the treaty was signed, the Chickasaws, Choc- 
taws, and Cherokees set up claims, each to their particular share of the 
ceded lands. The government at length purchased the title of these 
people, at the expense of about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

General Jackson had now leisure to extend his thoughts to Florida. 
It had always been his aim, at the termination of the Creek war, to push 
through their country, to the last den of retreat, and destroy every source 
of contention. It was clearly understood, tliat the Spanish Governor of 
fhti Floridas had forfeited all claim to his professed neutral character, by 
the supplies of munitions and aid, so liberally furnished to the hostile 
Indians. 

During his journey to Alabama, General Jackson received information 
that about three hundred British troops had landed, and were fortifying 
themselves at the mouth of the Apalachicola, and were endeavoring to 



JACKSON. 293 

excite the Indians to war. He immediately acquainted the government 
of the fact, and requested permission to make a descent upon Pensacola, 
and reduce it. He received an answer, but not until long after he had 
acted, on his own responsibility, in the case. 

Jackson next wrote to the Spanish Governor. His letter was stern 
and decided : it demanded the giving up the hostile Indians in his coun- 
try. The reply to this letter was received after much delay. The 
Governor denied some of the charges, and endeavored to palliate others, 
by accusing our government of having harbored traitors from the Mexican 
provinces, and of countenancing pirates who plundered Spanish com- 
merce. The General answered this letter by another, from which we 
select the following passages : 

" Your excellency has been candid enough to admit your having sup- 
plied the Indians with arms. In addition to this, I have learned that a 
British flag has been seen flying on one of your forts. All this is done 
whilst you are pretending to be neutral. You cannot be surprised, then, 
but on the contrary will provide a fort in your town for my soldiers and 
Indians, should I take it in my head to pay you a visit. 

" In future I beg you to withhold your insulting charges agamst my 
government for one more inclined to listen to slander than I am ; nor 
consider me any more as a diplomatic character, unless so proclaimed to 
you from the months of my cannon." 

Captam Gordon, who had been sent to Pensacola, reported on his return, 
that he had seen from one hundred and fifty to two hundred oflicers and 
soldiers, a park of artillery, and about five hiindred Indians, under the 
drill of British officers, armed with new muskets, nnd dressed in the 
English uniform. 

Jackson directly laid before government the information he had receiv- 
ed, and again urged his favorite scheme, the reduction of Pensacola. 
Many difficulties were presented ; but in order to have every thing in 
readiness, when the time for action should arrive, he addressed the Gover- 
nors of Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Mississippi Territory, and urged 
them to lend all the aid in their power. He ordered the warriors of the 
different tribes of Indians to be marshalled, and taken into the pay of the 
government. 

The day after completing his business at Fort Jackson, he departed 
for Mobile, to place the country in a state of defence. He dispatched 
Colonel Butler to Tennessee to raise volunteers, and ordered General 
Coffee to advance, with such mounted troops as he could collect. Every 
preparation was soon completed, and the troops set out for their place of 
destination. 

General Jackson had not yet received permission from government to 
march against Pensacola; and his design was a secret, which was locked 
up in his own bosom. Events soon transpired which confirmed him in his 
determination. Colonel Nicholls, with a small squadron of British ships, 
arrived at Pensacola, and took up his quarters with Governor Manrequez. 
He issued a proclamation for the purpose of drawing deserters from the 
American side to his standard; but we are not aware that he succeeded 
in his attempt. He facetiously stated, that the people had been deprived 



294 JACKSON. 

of their rights and liberties " by a contemptible foe," and that he was at 
tlie head of a force, sufficient to reinstate them in their ancient posses- 
sions. He denounced us as in alliance with Napoleon, of whom he drew 
a very melancholy picture. 

He waited two weeks to give time for this proclamation to ferment in 
the minds of his readers, but, to his mortification, it finally went off like 
a cork from a bottle of very flat beer. His first visit was to Fort BoAvyer, 
commanding the entrance of Mobile Bay. In an attack on this fort the 
Colonel lost one of his ships, and was deprived of an eye. He found 
tliat he had been addressing a stubborn and stiflf-necked people, and re- 
pented, too late, of his mistake. 

Fort Bowyer had been put into a state of defence by General Jackson, 
who early saw its importance. Major Lawrence commanded this spot. 
His whole force was but one hundred and thirty men. The fort was 
attacked from the sea by six hundred men, and ninety heavy guns. The 
attack from the rear was with a force of four hundred Indians and other 
troops. The enemy retired with the loss of their best ship, and two 
hundred and thirty men killed and wounded. The loss of the Americans 
did not exceed ten men. 

The British retired to Pensacola, to refit, and prepare for a descent on 
some less guarded point. Jackson now determined to undertake, on his 
own responsibility, the capture of this town ; and Avaited only for the 
arrival of General Coflee with volunteers, to carry his determination into 
effect. It was at this time very generally understood that a considerable 
force was shortly to sail from England, destined to act against some part 
of the United States, most probably New Orleans. It was the key to all 
the western country, and a place of immense importance, in every point 
of view. It was presumptuously supposed by the English, that the 
French inhabitants of Louisiana would hail them as restorers of the 
legitimate French monarchy. 

General Coflee arrived Avith the expected reinforcements, and on the 
2d day of November, the line of march was taken up for Pensacola. On the 
6th, the American army, consisting in all of about three thousand m^n, ar- 
rived there. The British and Spaniards had been apprised of their ap- 
proach, and had made preparations for resistance. The forts were garrison- 
ed ; batteries formed in the principal streets ; and the British vessels, moored 
within the bay, were so disposed as to command tlie main entrances which 
lAl into Pensacola. 

Previous to conunencing the attack, Jackson made a further attempt at 
negociation. Major Piere was dispatched witli a flag, to make known 
the required conditions, but he was fired on, and compelled to return. 
This outrage was committed under the Spanish flag, although the British 
flag had been associated with it until the day before. Jackson did not 
give up his hopes of a reconciliation. A Spanish ofliccr had been taken 
the day before, and by him he dispatched another letter to the GoA'ernor. 
An answer was received, stating that the above outrage was properly 
chargeable on the English, and that the Governor was ready to listen to 
wnaiever overtures the American General might make. On the recep- 
tion of this answer, Major Piere was dispatclied, at a late hour of the 



JACKSON. 295 

night, to the Governor, with another letter, containing the overtures of 
peace. In this communication, Jackson remarks : " I come not as the ene- 
my of Spain : not to make w^ar, but to ask for peace ; to demand security 
for my country, and that respect to w^hich she is entitled, and must receive. 
My force is sufficient, and my determination taken, to prevent a future 
repetition of the injuries she has received. I demand, therefore, the 
possession of the Barrancas, and other fortifications, with all your muni- 
tions of war. If delivered peaceably, the whole will be receipted for, 
and become the subject of future arrangement by our respective govern- 
ments ; Avhile the property, laws, and religion of your citizens snail ,be 
respected. But if taken by an appeal to arms, let the blood of your 
subjects be upon your own head. I will not hold myself responsible for 
the conduct of my enraged soldiers. One hour is given you for delibe- 
ration, when your determination must be had." 

The propositions contained in this letter were rejected. Jackson 
immediately resolved to urge his army forward. Early on the morning 
of the 7th, the troops were in motion. To favor the idea, that he would 
reach the town by the road along which he had been encamped, the 
General sent a detachment of five hundred men, with orders to show 
themselves in this direction, that they might deceive the enemy ; while 
with the strength of his army, he rapidly approached Pensacola on a 
different quarter. The stratagem succeeded. The British looked for his 
appearance from the point where the detachment was seen. They had 
formed their vessels across the bay, and were waiting his approach with 
the most praiseworthy patience. Suddenly our troops were descried 
upon the beach, on the east side, where it was impossible for the flotilla to 
annoy them. 

They pushed forward, and were soon in the streets, and sheltered by 
the houses. One company formed the advance, led by Captain Laval, 
who fell, severely wounded, while charging a Spanish battery, formed in 
the street. The other divisions advanced rapidly upon the town. Cap- 
tain Laval's party, although deprived of their leader, forced the battery 
at the point of the bayonet. The Spaniards had been able to mako but 
three fires, before they were compelled to abandon their position. Tfiey 
still discharged, however, volleys of musketry from behind the housea 
and fences, until they were dispersed by the arrival of the regulars. 

The Governor, bearing a'flag, now hastened panic-struck in scare li of 
the commander. He was met by Colonels Williamson and Smith, at 
the head of dismounted troops, and entreated that mercy might be ex- 
tended to the city. 

General Jackson hastened to the intendant house, and obtained a promise 
of an immediate surrender of the town, the arsenals, and the muni- 
tions of war. No time was lost in procuring a surrender of the forts. 
Barrancas, the most important, was fourteen miles west of Pensacola. 
Notwithstanding the assurances which had been given. Fort St. Michael 
was still withheld ; nor was it until a battery was raised against it, that 
the commandant ordered his flag to be taken down. Previously to striking 
his colors, the commandant had asked leave to discharge his guns. 
This request was complied with ; but the treacherous Spaniard coolly 



296 JACKSON. 

fired his pieces, charged with grape, at a party of dragoons and Choctaw 
Indians, who were at a short distance. By this act of perfidy, three 
horses were killed, and two men wounded. It was a commendable piece 
of forbearance on the part of General Jackson, and somewhat at variance 
with his usual excitability, that he did not punish the commandant with 
a halter. 

Every thing was in readiness, the next day, to take possession of Bar- 
rancas. Our troops were approaching the place, when a tremendous 
explosion gave notice that all was destroyed. It was found that the fort 
had been blown up, and that the British shipping had retired from the 
bay. On their retreat from Pensacola, the British carried off with them 
three or four hundred slaves, in spite of the remonstrances of the owners. 
Our loss in the expedition was trifling. None were killod. About 
twenty were wounded, among whom were Captain Laval, and Lieutenant 
Flournoy. 

The General was now anxious to depart for New Orleans. His health 
was much impaired, but his fear that a large fleet would soon appear on 
the coast, impelled him to action. Colonel Havne was sent to the mouth 
of the Mississippi on a tour of examination. General Coffee and Colonel 
Hinds were ordered to occupy a position in the vicinity of New Orleans. 
Every thing being finally arranged, Jackson left Mobile on the 22d of 
November, and on the 1st of December established his head-quarters at 
New Orleans. 

A correspondence had for some time been carried on between General 
Jackson and the Governor of Louisiana, in relation to the existing cir- 
cumstances of the State. It was believed that little reliance could be 
placed on the great body of the citizens. Many of the inhabitants felt 
not the attachment of birth to the country ; while others were indifferent as 
to what power they surrendered. The requisition for troops had been 
poorl}'^ answered, and many refused, after being drafted, to enter the ranks. 
In one of his letters to Governor, Claiborne, the General remarked: "I 
regret to hear of the discontents of your people : they must not exist. 
Whoever is not for us, is against us. Those who are drafted must be 
comjKlled to the ranks, or punished : it is no time to balance : the country 
must he defended; and he who refuses to aid, when called on, must be 
treated with severity. To repel the danger with which Ave are assailed, 
requires all our energies, and all our exertions. With union on our side, 
^e shall be able to drive our invaders back to the ocean. Summon all 
your energy, and guard every avenue with confidential patrolcs, for spies 
and traitors are swarming around. Numbers will be flocking to your 
city, to gain information, and corrupt your citizens. Every aid in your 
power must be given to prevent vessels sailing with provisions. By us 
the enemy must not be fed. Let none pass; for on this will depend our 
safety, until we can get a competent force in the field, to oppose attack, 
or become the assailants. We have more to dread from intestine, than 
open and avowed enemies : but vigilance on our side, and all will be safe. 
Remember our watchword is victory or death. Our country must and 
shall be defended. We \^ill enjoy our liberty, or perish in the last 
ditch." 



JACKSON. 29y 

He forwarded an address to the people of Louisiana, in which he 
pointed out the course which the present crisis required them to adopt, 
and entreated them not to be lured from their fidelity. 

"Your government, Louisianians, is engaged in a just and honorable 
contest, for the security of your individual, and her national rights. The 
only country on earth, where man enjoys freedom, where its blessings 
are alike extended to the poor and rich, calls on you to protect her from 
the grasping usurpation of Britain : — she will not call in vain. I know 
that every man whose bosom beats high at the proud title of freeman, 
will promptly obey her voice, and rally round the eagles of his country, 
resolved to rescue her from impending danger, or nobly to die in her 
defence. He who refuses to defend his rights, when called on by his 
government, deserves to be a slave — deserves to be punished as an enemy 
to his country — a friend to her foes." 

In the mean time, orders were issued by the Secretary of War to the 
Governors of the adjoining States to hasten forward their quotas of men 
and supplies. Governor Shelby of Kentucky displayed his zeal by the 
most efficient exertions. The troops from his State were immediately 
organized, placed under the command of Major-General Thomas, and 
dispatched down the Ohio. Major-General William Carroll commanded 
the detachment from Tennessee. On the 19th of November, the day ap- 
pointed for their rendezvous, twenty-five hundred of the yeomanry of th© 
State appeared at Nashville, and, in eight days, embarked on board 
their boats for New Orleans. 

Although General Jackson had heretofore been mainly dependent on 
the militia for his successes, yet he had but little faith in their ability t.-, 
contend in an open field, against troops experienced in all the manceuvres 
and stratagems of war. In a letter to the Secretary of War, of the 20th 
of November, 1814, he observes, " Permit me to suggest a plan, which, 
on a fair experiment, will do away or lessen the expenses, under the 
existing mode of calling militia forces into the field. Whenever there 
happens to be a deficiency in the regular force, in any particular quarter, 
let the government determine on the necessary number : this should be 
apportioned among the different States, agreeably to their respective re- 
presentations, and called into service for, and during the war. The 
quota wanted will, in my opinion, be soon raised from premiums offered 
by those who are subject to militia duty, rather than be harassed by re- 
peated drafts. In the mean time, let the present bounty, given by the 
government, be also continued. If this be done, I will insure that an 
effective force shall soon appear in every quarter, amply sufficient 
for the reduction of Canada, and to drive all our enemies from our 
shores." 

The Legislature of Louisiana had been for some weeks in session, but 
had not yet arrived at any definite decision. The arrival of Jackson 
infused new vigor into the public measures. He reviewed the volunteer 
corps of the city, visited the different forts, and inspected the avenues to 
the city. The old fort at the Balize was abandoned, and Fort St. Philip 
was put in the best possible state of defence. Various alterations and 
improvements were ordered to be made in the other forts along the 
38 



298 JACKSON. 

river. Negroes were the only laborers, that in this swampy and insalu- 
brious clime, could be expected to perform these labors. The planters 
were appealed to, to furnish their slaves. 

The measures of defence on Lakes Borgne and Ponchartrain were 
promptly carried into effect by Commodore Patterson. Lieutenant Jones 
with his gun-boats was sent to defend the passes, and the communica- 
tion between the two lakes was protected by a fort, under Capiain Nor- 
man. Guards and videttes were also posted in different directions to 
convey early intelligence of every thing that passed. Notwithstanding 
these precautions, treachery at last pointed out to the enemy a n/rrow 
pass, through which they effected a landing, and reached undisco ered 
the banks of the Mississippi. 

As soon as information was received, that the English fleet wen' ap- 
proaching, Lieutenant Jones, with his gun-boats, was ordered to i on- 
noitre, and ascertain their disposition and force. On the 13th o' De- 
cember, he discovered the enemy moving off in barges towards I'ass 
Christian. He had explicit orders to fight the enemy only at the i; go- 
lets, which a violent wind prevented him from reaching. His siti i ion 
became dangerous ; but, at a inr ment of extreme peril, the tide, wlr 'i is 
there very irregular, came suuJenly in, and lifting the boats off the ^ uoal, 
bore tliem away from the attack. At the bay of St. Louis was a ^mall 
depot of public stores, which Lieutenant Jones had been ordered to i ing 
away. Air. Johnson, on board the Seahorse, proceeded to execut. his 
order. The enemy, on the retreat of Lieutenant Jones, dispatched ree 
barges to capture liim. They were driven back. An additional ; rce 
was sent against him, when a smart action commenced, and the s. lil- 
ants -.vere again compelled to retire with loss. But, aware that i was 
out of his power to defend himself against so large a force as the I^m ish 
could bring against hin\, he blew up his vessel, burned the stores and 
effected a retreat by land. 

Early on the morning of the 14th, the enemy's barges, lyiii;: fine 
miles to the east, suddenly weighed their anchors, and proceeded \\>st- 
wardly to the pass, where our gun-boats still lay. The same dillu ulty 
experienced before was encountered. A perfect calm prevailed, while a 
strong current rendered every eflbrt to retire unavailing. No alter: uiive 
remained but to meet and fight the enemy; whose force consisc.l of 
forty-three boats, mounting as many cannon, and 1200 chosen ;'^en. 
The action soon commenced. A strong current unfortunately d ued 
two of our boats a hundred yards in advance of the line. The 1 1 -.aiy 
bore down on the gun-boats in advance, and attempted to board t" m. 
They were repulsed with great slaughter, and two of their boats ^^e^e 
sunk. One of them with one hundred and eighty men, went down im ; i di- 
atelv under the stern of one of the two gun-boats. A second attempt to •. > vrd 
them proved unsuccessful. Lieutenant Jones received a severe w aid, 
and was obliged to yield the command to George Parker, who soon afti was 
also compelled to retire on the same account. After a conflict of i' rly 
an hour's duration, the Americans yielded to superiority of force. ' . id- 
shipmen Cauly and Reynolds, young men of promise, fell victims t die 
wounds received in tliis contest. The American loss was ten killed aid 



JACKSON. 299 

tliirty-five wounded. That of the assailants could not have been less 
than three hundred. The British returned, with their shipping, to Cat 
Island. 

General Jackson received the news of this disaster with concern. Ac- 
tive and energetic measures were requisite to meet the exigencies of the 
occasion. Major Lacoste, commanding a battalion of colored troops, 
with two pieces of cannon, and a sufficient force, was ordered to defend 
the Chef Menteur road, that leads from the head of lake Borgne to New 
Orleans. The Rigolots presented the most probable route for the adr 
vance of the enemy. This important point was reinforced, and confided 
to Captain Newman, of the artillery. On the 16th, the militia were re- 
viewed by Jackson, who addressed them in a tone suited to the occa- 
sion. 

The day after the contest on the lakes, Mr. Shields, purser in the 
navy, was dispatched with a flag to Cat Island, accompanied by Dr. 
Murrell. The object of the mission was to alleviate the situation of our 
wounded, and to effect their liberation on parole. The British command- 
er tried various methods of obtaining from these gentlemen, information 
of the strength and disposition of our army ; but nothing could be elicit- 
ed from them. They were placed at night in a room, where their con- 
versation might be overheard. Suspecting something of the kind, they 
resolved to turn the circumstance to their advantage. They talked of the 
circumstance of their detention, and of the prudent caution with which 
they had withheld all information from the British commander. " But," 
continued Shields, "how greatly these gentlemen will be disappointed 
in their expectations ! For Jackson, with the twenty thousand troo])s he 
now has, and the reinforcements from Kentucky, which must speedily 
reach him, will be able to destroy any force that can be landed from 
these ships." These words were eagerly listened to and treasured, and 
the belief was adopted that our force was as large as the wily prisoner 
represented. 

Early on the 15th, expresses were sent in quest of General Coffee, 
who, it was hoped, was not far distant with the troops from Tennessee 
and Kentucky. The express met Coffee a little above Baton Rouge, 
where he had halted, with three hundred men on his sick list. He imme- 
diately hastened forward with his force reduced to eight hundred men, and 
early on the morning of the 20th arrived within four miles of New Orleans. 
The advance of Colonel Hinds, with the Mississippi dragoons, was no less 
expeditious. Having received his orders, he effected, in four dnys, a 
march of two hundred and thirty miles. On the 21st, General Carroll 
appeared with the rest of the Tennesseans. 

When it was announced in New Orleans, that the British had dis- 
embarked, all was panic among the citizens, notwithstanding the j)repa- 
rations of the General. On the night of the 22d, the enemy effected a 
landing at Bayou Bienvenue, a lagune of considerable extent, slretcliing 
from lake Borgne, to within fifteen miles of New Orleans. Jackson re- 
solved to advance and give them battle that night. He arrived in sight 
of the enemy a little before dark. The schooner Caroline was ordered 
to drop down opposite the enemy's position, where she was to anchoi 



300 JACKSON. 

and deliver her fire. This was to he the signal for a general atfac) 
General CofTee had cautiously advanced beyond the enemy's pickets, anJ 
nearly reached an advantageous position, when a broadside from the 
Caroline announced the battle begun. The British were so much an- 
noyed by her guns, that they were compelled to retire three hundred 
yards in rear of their first position. Their compelled change of place 
brought their right in contact with General Coffee, sooner than that 
officer had expected. His men opened a fire so destructive, that the 
enemy gave way, but soon rallied again. 

Thus the battle raged on the left wing, until the British reached the 
bank of the river. The conflict here was severe on both sides, for half 
an hour. Neither force could be made to yield their ground. But at 
length the British, having suffered greatly, took refuge behind the levee, 
which afforded them a breastwork adequate to shield them from the fatal 
fire of our riflemen. General Coffee, imacquainted from the darkness 
of the night with the strength of their position, proposed to charge them 
again ; but he was finally induced to retire, and await the orders of his 
General. 

While the left wing was thus engaged. General Jackson attacked the 
enemy's left flank. The British troops had gained a favorable position 
between two levees, or embankments, which had been raised to resist 
the encroachments of the Mississippi. Here they were partly sheltered 
from the fire of the American riflemen and the guns of the Caroline. 
They resisted bravely for half an hour, giving ground, however ; Avhen a 
dense fog arising, and his troops getting into disorder, Jackson judged it 
prudent to discontinue the contest. 

From prisoners and deserters it was ascertained, that the enemy was 
now not much short of six thousand strong. This number greatly ex- 
ceeded any force which the American General could bring against them ; 
and Jackson resolved to forbear all farther efforts, until he should dis- 
cover the ultimate views of the enemy, and be reinforced by the Ken- 
tucky troops that were expected. He fell back, and formed his line 
behind a deep ditch, that run at right angles from the river, and was de- 
fended on the left by an almost impervious swamp. He exerted himself 
strenuously to put this position in a proper state of defence. Bales of 
cotton in vast numbers were drawn from the city, and placed so as to 
form an almost impenetrable bulwark. 

The British in the mean time were not idle. Early on the morning 
of the 27th, a battery, which had been throw^n up the preceding night, 
was discovered on the bank of the river. Ineffectual efforts had been 
made to float the schooner up the stream. Bombs and red-hot shot were 
thrown on her from the battery, and she was finally in flames. There 
being no chance of saving her, and one of the crew being killed, and six 
wounded, she was abandoned, and shortly after blew up. 

On the 28th, the British columns advanced on our works, apparently 
with the object of storming them. Sir Edward Packenham commanded 
in person. At the distance of half a mile, they opened their heavy ar- 
tillery upon us. Showers of bombs, balls, and congreve rockets were 
discharged, but excited no sensation in the minds of the Americans, save 



JACKSON. 301 

that of curiosity. After persevering in their attack for seven hours, the 
British abandoned the unavailing contest. The armed sloop Louisiana 
had also opened a fire upon them, and w^ithstood all their efforts to si- 
lence her. 

While these proceedings were going on, Jackson received an intimation, 
that it was the design of the Legislature, in case he should be defeated, 
to offer the enemy terms of capitulation. He was greatly incensed at 
this intelligence, and sent orders to Governor Claiborne to watch narrow- 
ly the conduct of the Legislature, and the moment the project of offering 
a capitulation to the enemy should be fully disclosed, to place a guard at 
the door, and confine the representatives to their chamber. On receiv- 
ing this order, the Governor coolly marched an armed force into the 
hall of the Legislature, and unceremoniously expelled the members at 
the point of the bayonet. 

Before this, Jackson had been called on by a special committee of the 
Legislature to know what his course would be, should necessity drive 
him from his position. "If," replied the General, " I thought the hair 
of my head could divine what I should do, I would cut it off: go back 
with this answer ; say to your honorable body, that, if disaster does over- 
take me, and the fate of war drives me from my line to the city, they 
may expect to have a very warm session." " And what did you design 
to do," one inquired, " provided you had been forced to retreat ?" " I 
should," he replied, " have retreated to the city, fired it, and fought the 
enemy amidst the surrounding flames. There v^ere with me men of 
wealth, owners of considerable property, who, in such an event, would 
have been amongst the foremost to have applied the torch to their own 
buildings ; and what they had left undone, I should have completed. — 
Nothing for the comfortable maintenance of the enemy would have been 
left in the rear. I would have destroyed New Orleans, occupied a posi- 
tion above on the river, cut off all supplies, and in this way compelled 
them to depart from the country." 

From this time to the 8th of January, no important military operations 
took place. There were some trifling skirmishes, and an occasional 
cannonade, but nothing to change the relative position of the two armies. 
To repair the damage caused by the enemy's cannon. General Jackson 
seized a considerable quantity of cotton, and filled up the breaches 
with it. The man to whom the bales belonged complained to him, and 
demanded their restoration. Finding that he was not enrolled in any 
corps, the General put a musket into his hand and ordered him into the 
ranks ; remarking, that as he was a man of property, none could be more 
proper to defend it. 

The 8th of January dawned, and with the dawn the enemy's signals 
for movement were descried. These were two skyrockets, the one 
thrown up on the left, the other on the right of the enemy's camp. The 
charge that followed was so rapid, that the troops at the outposts fled in 
with difficulty. Showers of bombs and balls were poured upon our line, 
while the air blazed with congreve rockets. The two divisions, com- 
manded by Sir Edward Packenham in person, and supported by Gene- 
rals Keane and Gibbs, pressed forward, the right against the centre of 



302 JACKSON. 

General Carroll's division, — the left against our redoubt on the levee. A 
thick fog enabled them to approach near our entrenchment, before they 
were discovered. Our troops, on descrying them, gave three cheers, and 
poured upon them from the whole line a sheet of fire. It was accompanied 
by a burst of artillery, which swept down their front. From the musketry- 
there was a continued volley. Some of the enemy moved through this 
murderous fire, and gained the ditch in front of our works, where 
they remained during the action, and were afterwards made prisoners. — 
Nothing could surpass the horror of the scene before them. These 
trained veterans were seen first to waver, and then retire. Sir Edward 
Packenham hastened to their front, and endeavored to rally them. He 
fell mortally wounded, in the arms of his aid-de-camp, not far from our 
line. It is said that Packenham had appealed to the worst passions of 
his troops to stimulate them to the assault. " Beauty and Booty" were 
the words given by him as the order of the day. 

Scarcely had Packenham received his death-wound, when the next 
officer in command was borne from the field dangerously wounded. The 
British then retreated, in less confusion than might have been expectea, 
till they gained the shelter of a ditch, where they halted and dressed 
their ranks. Their officers, having restored order, led them steadily on 
once more over the thick strewn bodies of their comrades, and met the 
same reception as before. So dreadful was the destruction, that they 
could hardly close the gaps in their ranks as fast as they were made. — 
They were endeavoring to deploy into the line, when they at once lost 
heart, broke, and fled, in spite of their leaders, the points of whose 
swords had now less terror for them than the American rifles. General 
Lambert, who had succeeded to the command, led them back to their for- 
mer position. 

Meanwhile, a simultaneous attack by Colonel Thornton, with three 
hundred chosen men, had been made upon General Morgan's position on 
the left bank of the river. Some troops, that were stationed in advance 
to act as spies, retreated on the landing of the enemy, and were met on 
their return by the Kentucky force, who joined them. The two detach- 
ments, now acting together, formed behind a saw-mill race, the plank 
and scantling of which made a tolerable breastwork. A spirited resist- 
ance was maintained towards the advancing foe for some time, and for a 
moment the enemy were checked. They rallied, advanced, and again re- 
ceived a heavy fire. The General's aid, perceiving the steady advance 
of the British, and fearing for the safety of his troops, ordered a retreat. 
The consequence was, that the whole force fled in haste, creating confu- 
sion in General Morgan's line. Here they were halted, and formed in a 
line that reached quite to the swamp. Colonel Thornton, having ar- 
rived in an orange grove, seven hundred yards distant from our line, 
halted and surveyed it. He immediately advanced to attack it in two 
divisions. It Avas defended by about fifteen hundred men. A severe 
discharge from the ordnance along our works caused their right division 
10 oblique, and to unite with their left. They pressed upon the point 
occupied by tlie Kentucky troops. From some inexplicable cause, the 
whole force became panic struck, and fled. Through the exertions of the 



JACKSON. 303 

officers, a momentary halt was effected ; but a burst of congreve rockets 
fallinjT thickly around them, and setting fire to the sugar-cane and other 
combustibles, renewed their flight. Colnmodore Patterson had been 
firi IS.T- on the enemy from the opposite shore. But seeing the confusion 
of tiiis retreat, and aware that he could not maintain his ground, he 
spil-ed his guns, and retired from his post. 

Creneral Jackson hastened to throw detachments across the river, with 
ord rs to regain the position at all hazards. Fortunately his object was 
obt; ined without the effusion of blood. 

'i he British commander sent a flag of truce with a proposal that hos- 
tilities should cease for twenty-four hours, that the dead might be buried. 
General Jackson assented, but stipulated that the truce should not extend 
to the troops on the right bank, and that no reinforcement should be sent 
across by either party. Whether General Lambert had already deter- 
mined to abandon the post gained and retreat, or whether he inferred 
from this answer, that a large American force had already been sent 
over, cannot now be known. At any rate. Colonel Thornton did not 
wait to be attacked, but recrossed the river and joined the main body in 
the night. The Americans joyfully took possession of the post he had 
abandoned, and thus both armies were again in the same relative posi- 
tions as before the battle. 

The loss of the British in the main attack on the left has been various- 
ly stated. The killed, wounded and prisoners, as ascertained by Colo- 
nel Hayne, our inspector general, the day after the battle, amounted to 
two thousand six hundred. The American loss, in killed and wounded, 
was but thirteen. Our effective force on the line Avas short of four 
thousand. That of the enemy engaged was at least nine thousand. 

The conflict ended, and each army occupied its former position. A 
powerful effort was made by the enemy to bring their fleet up the river, 
and change the character of the campaign. A long and violent attack 
was made on Fort St. Philip, by two bomb vessels, a brig, sloop, and 
schooner. The assault was continued, until the night of the 17th, du- 
ring which time an immense quantity of bombs and balls were thrown 
upon the fort by the enemy. It was commanded by Major Overton, who 
managed the defence with much skill and bravery. The efforts of the 
British were in vain, and the British finally forsook their camp, and 
tooK- refuge on board their shipping. Our loss in the defence was nine 
killed or wounded. On the 10th of February, news of peace was re« 
r,ei\ ed at New Orleans. 

Thus ended the much talked of battle of New Orleans. At the close 
of tiie contest. General Jackson delivered an address in the following 
stra n : 

" Citizens, and fellow-soldiers ! The enemy has retreated, and your 
General has now leisure to proclaim to the world what he has noticed 
witli admiration and pride — your undaunted courage, your patriotism, 
and patience under hardships and fatigues. Natives of diflferent States, 
acting together for the first time in this camp; differing in habits and in 
language, instead of viewing) in these circumstances the germ of distrust 
end division, you have mad» ihem the source of honorable emulation, and 



304 JACKSON. 

from the seeds of discord itself have reaped the fruits of an honorable 
union. Tliis day completes the fourth week, since fifteen hundred of 
you attacked treble your number of men, who had boasted of their disci- 
pline and dieir services under a celebrated leader, in a long and eventful 
war — attacked them in their camp, the moment they had profaned the 
soil of freedom with their hostile tread, and inflicted a blow which was a 
prelude to the final result of their attempt to conquer, or their poor con- 
trivances to divide us. A few hours was sufficient to unite the gallant 
band, though, at the moment they received the welcome order to march, 
they were separated many leagues, in different directions from the city. 
The gay rapidity of the march, and the cheerful countenances of the of- 
ficers and men, would have induced a belief that some festive entertain- 
ment, not the strife of battle, was the scene to which they hastened with 
so much eagerness and hilarity. In the conflict that ensued, the same 
spirit was supported, and my communications to the executive of the 
United States, have testified the sense I entertained of the merits of the 
corps and officers that were engaged. Eesting on the field of battle, 
they retired in perfect order on the next morning to these lines, destined 
10 become the scene of future victories, which they were to share with 
the rest of you, my brave companions in arms. Scarcely were your 
lines a protection against musket shot, when, on tlie 2Sl1i, a disposition 
was made to attack them with all the pomp and parade of military tac- 
tics, as improved by those veterans of the Spanish war. 

" Their batteries of heav^' cannon kept up an incessant fire ; their 
rockets illuminated the air ; and, under their cover, two strong columns 
threatened our flanks. The foe insolently thought that this spectacle 
was too imposing to be resisted, and in the intoxicatioii of this pride, he 
already saw our lines abandoned without a contest. How were these 
menacing appearances met ? By shouts of defiance, by a manly coun- 
tenance, not to be shaken by the roar of his cannon, or by the glare of his 
firework rockets ; by an artillery served with superior skill, and with 
deadly effect. Never, my brave friends, can your General forget the 
testimonials of attachment to our glorious cause, of indignant hatred to 
our foe, of affectionate confidence in your chief, that resounded from 
every rank, as he passed along your line. This animating scene damp- 
ed the courage of the enemy ; he dropped his scaling ladders and fas- 
cines, and the threatened attack dwindled into a demonstraticm, which 
served only to show the emptiness of his parade, and to inspire you with 
a just confidence in yourselves. 

*' The new year was ushered in with the most tremendous fire his 
whole artillery could produce : a few hours only, however, were necessa- 
ry for the brave and skilful men, who directed our own, to dismount 
his cannon, destroy his batteries, and efl'ectually silence his fire. Hith- 
erto, my brave friends, in the contest on our lines, your courage had 
been passive only ; you stood with calmness a fire that would have tried 
tlie firmness of a veteran, and you anticipated a nearer contest with an 
eagerness which was soon to be gratified. 

" On the Sth of January, the final effort was made. At the dawn of 
day the batteries opened, and tlie columns advanced. Knowing tliat the 
I 
t 

n ^1 



jAckson. 305 

volunteers from Tennessee and the militia from Kentucky were stationed 
on your left, it was there they directed their chief attack. 

" Reasoning always from false principles, they expected little opposi- 
tion from men whose officers even were not in uniform, who were ig- 
norant of the rules of dress, and who had never been caned into discipline. 
Fatal mistake ! a fire incessantly kept up, directed with a calmness and 
unerring aim, strewed the field with the bravest officers and men of the 
column, which slowly advanced, according to the most approved rules of 
European tactics, and was cut down by the untutored courage of Ameri- 
can militia. Unable to sustain this galling and unceasing fire, some 
hundreds nearest the intrenchment called for quarter, which was grant- 
ed : the rest retreating, were rallied at some distance, but only to make 
them a surer mark for the grape and canister shot of our artillery, which, 
without exaggeration, mowed down whole ranks at every discharge ; and 
at length they precipitately retired from the field. 

" Our right had only a short contest to sustain Avith a few rash men, 
who, fatally for themselves, forced their entrance into the unfinished re- 
doubt on the river. They were quickly dispossessed, and this glorious 
day terminated with the loss to the enemy, of their Commander-in-chief 
and one Major-General killed, another Major-General wounded, the most 
experienced and bravest of their officers, and more than three thousand 
men killed, wounded and missing, while our ranks, my friends, were 
thinned only by the loss of seven of our brave companions killed, and 
six disabled by wounds. Wonderful interposition of Heaven ! unexampled 
event in the history of war ! 

" Let us be grateful to the God of battles, who has directed the arrows 
of indignation against our invaders, while he covered with his protecting 
shield the brave defenders of their country. 

" After this unsuccessful and disastrous attempt, their spirits were bro- 
ken, their force was destroyed, and their whole attention was employed 
in providing the means of escape. This they have effected ; leaving 
their heavy artillery in our power, and many of their wounded to our 
clemency. The consequences of this short but decisive campaign are 
incalculably important. The pride of our arrogant enemy humbled, his 
forces broken, his leaders killed, his insolent hopes of our disunion frus- 
trated — his expectation of rioting in our spoils and wasting our country, 
changed into ignominious defeat, shameful flight, and a reluctant ac- 
knowledgment of the humanity and kindness of those, whom he had 
doomed to all the horrors and humiliation of a conquered state. 

" On the other side, unanimity established, disaffection crushed, con- 
fidence restored, your country saved from conquest, your property from 
pillage, your wives and daughters from insult and violation — the union 
preserved from dismemberment, and perhaps a period put, by this de- 
cisive stroke, to a bloody and savage war. These, my brave friends, are 
the consequences of the efforts you have made, and the success with which 
they have been crowned by Heaven. 

" These important results have been effected by the united courage and 
perse /erance of the army ; but which the different corps, as well as the 
individuals that compose it, have vied with each other in their exertions 
39 



806 JACKSON. 

to produce. The gratitude, the admiration of their country, ofFers a 
fairer reward than that which any praises of the General can bestow ; 
and tlie best is that of which they can never be deprived, the conscious- 
ness of having done their duty, and of meriting the applause they will 
receive." 

On tlie 22d of the month, Jackson signed a warrant Avhich condemned 
six militia men to death, and nearly two hundred more to a disgraceful 
punishment. During the party excitement of 1S28, various statements 
of this affair appeared in the newspapers. An investigation of the Gene- 
ral's conduct was instituted by Congress, and to the proceedings on the 
occasion, we refer our readers. 

General Jackson was enthusiastically received at New Orleans, on 
his return. The 23d of January was appointed a day of Thanksgiving. 
Jackson repaired to the cathedral, which was crowded to excess. Chil- 
dren robed in Avhite, and representing the different States, strewed his 
way with flowers, and an ode Avas recited as he passed. A Te Deum 
was sung, and bishop Dubourg delivered an address, which he concluded 
by presenting the General with a wreath of laurel. 

During the prevalence of martial law in New Orleans, Jackson had 
arrested a member of the Legislature named Louallier, on a charge of 
exciting mutiny among his troops, by a publication in a newspaper. — 
Louallier applied to Judge Hall for a writ of habeas corpus, which was 
immediately issued. Instead, ho-wever, of acting in obedience to the writ, 
and surrendering M. Louallier, Jackson arrested the Judge and turned 
him out of the city. On being restored to the exercise of his functions, 
Judge Hall granted a rule of court for General Jackson to appear, and 
show cause why an attachment for contempt should not be awarded, on 
the ground that he had refused to obey a writ issued to him, detained an 
original paper belonging to the court, and imprisoned the Judge. Jack- 
son endeavored to justify his conduct in a long defence, but by the deci- 
sion of the court he was fined a thousand dollars. 

The popular feeling seems to have run strongly in his favor. No 
sooner was the judgment pronounced, than the crowds who filled the 
court-house, hurried forth with loud cries of "Huzza for Jackson." — 
They presently met a carriage in which a lady was riding, and taking 
her from it with more enthusiasm than civility, they compelled the ob- 
ject of their acclamations to occupy her place. The horses being re- 
moved, the carriage was drawn on, and stopped at the coffee-house, into 
which he was carried, and thither the crowd followed, huzzaing for 
Jackson, and uttering menaces against the Judge. A sum was soon 
raised sufficient to relieve Jackson of the payment of the fine ; but he is 
said to have preferred the satisfaction of refusing the proffered indemni- 
fication. 

General Jackson arrived in Nashville on the 18th of May, 1815, and 
was received in a flattering manner by the citizens of that place. He 
was soon after appointed Commander-in-chief of the southern division. 
The Legislature of Tennessee passed a vote of thanks, and presented 
him with a gold medal. Towards the close of the autumn of 1815, he 
repaired to tlie seat of government. On his way, he met with continued 



JACKSON. 307 

demonstrations of respect from the people. A public dinner was given 
him at Lynchburg, in Virginia, at which Thomas Jefferson gave the 
following toast : ' Honor and gratitude to the man who has filled the 
measure of his country's glory.' In the spring of 1816, Jackson again 
visited New Orleans. After stationing the army in the southern section 
of his division, he concluded a treaty with the Indians, the object of 
which was to obtain from them the absolute relinquishment of all the 
claim they pretended to have to lands within the limits of the United 
States, and which had been previously ceded by them. Shortly after- 
wards he entered into a correspondence with President Monroe, on the 
subject of the Wdr Department. It was his wish that the officers of his 
division should obey no order from the War Department, which did 
not pass through the office of his Adjutant General ; and he had issued 
a notice to this effect. The affair ended in the Secretary of War issuing 
a declaration, that, for the future, orders of the War Department should 
be first communicated to the commanding Generals of divisions, except- 
ing on extraordinary occasions. 

The Seminole Indians had committed many troublesome depredations 
on our southern frontiers. General Gaines had been ordered by the 
President on the 30th of October, 1817, to take measures for the defence 
of the frontier. In obedience to his orders, he built three forts, and pro- 
ceeded to expel the Indians. He met with considerable opposition. At 
the mouth of Flint river, a party of forty men, under Lieutenant Scott, 
fell into an ambuscade of the savages, and were all slain but six, who 
escaped by swimming. On hearing the news of this massacre, General 
Jackson raised an army of two thousand five hundred volunteers, mus- 
tered them as in the service of the United States, and appointed two 
hundred and thirty officers. On the first of April, he arrived with his 
army at the Mickasucky villages, which were deserted on his approach. 
He burned the villages, and marched to St. Marks, a Spanish post on 
Apalachy bay. 

Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scot, and an Indian trader, was taken near 
St. Marks and confined. Shortly afterwards, a British Lieutenant of 
marines, named Ambrister, was also seized. These men were accused 
of exciting the Indians to hostility against the United States, and sup- 
plying them with the means of war. They were tried by a court mar- 
tial, consisting of officers of militia, by whom the case seems to have 
been fully investigated. The unhappy prisoners were found guilty, and 
sentenced to be hung. 

General Jackson arrived about the middle of May at the Escambia, 
near Pensacola. Here, he received a remonstrance from the Governor 
of West Florida, who complained of the violation of a Spanish territory. 
But Jackson having heard that a party of fugitive Indians had passed 
through the town, resolved to follow them. He took possession of the 
place on the 24th ; and the Governor fled to Fort Barrancas for pro- 
tection. The next day, Jackson commenced offensive operations against 
the fort, which was finally surrendered. In a letter to the Secretary of 
War, dated June 2d, 1818, Jackson closes as follows. As usual, he does 
not omit to mention, in terms of praise, his officers and men. 



308 JACKSON. 

" The Seminole war may now be considered as at a close, tranquillity 
again restored to the southern frontier of the United States, and as long 
as a cordon of military posts is maintained along the Gulf of Mexico, 
America has nothing to apprehend from either foreign or Indian hostili- 
ties. Indeed Sir, to attempt to fortify, or protect an imaginary line, or to 
suppose that a frontier on the 01st degree of latitude, in a wilderness, 
can be secured by a cordon of military posts, while the Floridas lie open 
to an enemy, is visionary in the extreme. 

" Under this firm belief, I have bottomed all my operations. Spain 
had disregarded the treaties existing with the American Government, or 
had not power to enforce them. The Indian tribes within her territory, 
and which she was bound to keep at peace, had visited our citizens with 
all the horrors of savage war ; negro brigands were establishing them- 
selves, when and where tliey pleased ; and foreign agents were openly 
and knowingly practising their intrigues in this neutral territory. 

" The immutable principles, therefore, of self defence, justified the occu- 
pancy of the Floridas, ana the same principles will warrant the American 
government in holding it, until such time as Spain can guaranty, by an 
adequate military force, the maintaining her authority within the colony. 

" At the close of a campaign which has terminated so honorably and 
happily, it gives me pleasure to express my approbation, generally, of the 
officers and soldiers of every species of corps, which I have had the honor 
to command. The patience with which they endured fatigue, and sub- 
mitted to privations, and the determination with which they encountered, 
and vanquished every difficulty, is the strongest indication of the exist- 
ence of that patriotic feeling, which no circumstances can change, and of 
that irresistible ardor in the defence of his country, which will prove her 
strength and bulwark under any experience. I should do violence to 
my feelings, if I did not particularly notice the exertions of my quarter- 
master general. Colonel George Gibson, who, under the most embarrass- 
ing circumstances, relieved the necessities of my army, and to whose 
exertions was I indebted for the supplies received. His zeal and integrity, 
in this campaign, as well as in the uniform discharge of his duties since 
his connexion with my stafT, merits the approbation and gratitude of his 
country." 

At the close of the Seminole campaign. General Jackson returned to 
Nashville. From this period till the summer of 1S21, nothing particular- 
ly worthy of remark occurred to him. Florida was, by the treaty, to be 
ceded in August, and in June he was appointed Governor of the whole 
Territory, with powers equal to those which had been previously ex- 
ercised by the Spanish Governors. The Spanish officers yielded their 
several commands on the day appointed by the treaty. The new Go- 
vernor, however, did not assume his command in perfect harmony and 
serenity. There were certain documents of importance, which the Spa- 
nish Governor, Callava, retained in his possession. These, Jackson 
ordered him to surrender. Callava refused, and was taken into custody 
by an armed guard. He Avas carried before Governor Jackson, and was, 
by his order, committed to prison, until the papers should be delivered to 
the alcaide. On the next day, a search-warrant for the papers was issued 



JACKSON. 309 

by the Governor, upon which they were obtained, and directed to be de- 
livered to the alcaide ; whereupon, Callava was immediately released. 

In assuming the command in Florida, General Jackson had said : " I 
am clothed with powers, that no one, under a republic, ought to possess, 
and which I trust will never again be given to any man." Becoming 
weary of his situation as Governor, he resigned his office, and returned 
to Nashville. In May, 1822, he was nominated, by the Legislature of 
Tennessee, a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. He 
was elected in the autumn of the same year to the United States Senate. 
The new tariff bill, which was enacted the next session, received his 
support, 

Mr. Monroe's second term of office as President of the United State? 
was near expiring, and the question, who should be his successor, was 
an exciting one throughout the Union. The candidates were John 
Quincy Adams of the north, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay of the 
west, and Messrs. Crawford and Calhoun of the south, Mr. Calhoun 
withdrew from the canvass of 1824, and the contest was maintained be- 
tween the other candidates. General Jackson received ninety-nine elec- 
toral votes; J. Q. Adams, eighty-four; W. H, Crawford, forty-one; and 
Henry Clay, thirty-seven. By a constitutional provision, the election 
consequently devolved upon the House of Representatives, It was evi- 
dent, that Mr. Clay's chance of election was small, but having received 
the entire votes of three States, he was able to exercise a powerful in- 
fluence on the election. He avowed himself in favor of Mr. Adams : 
his friends followed his example, and Mr, Adams was consequently 
elected. 

During the political excitement in relation to the Presidency, General 
La Fayette, who had been making his memorable tour through the United 
States, arrived at Nashville, His visit to General Jackson is thus de- 
scribed by Levasseur, the secretary of our country's guest : 

" At one o'clock, we embarked with a numerous company, to proceed 
to dine with General Jackson, whose residence is a few miles up the 
river. We there found numbers of ladies and farmers from the neigh- 
borhood, whom Mrs, Jackson had invited to partake of the entertainment 
she had prepared for General La Fayette, The first thing that struck me 
on arriving at the General's, was the simplicity of his house. Still some- 
what influenced by my European habits, I asked myself if this could 
really be the dwelling of the most popular man in the United States, of 
him whom the country proclaimed one of her most illustrious defenders ; 
of him, finally, who by the will of the people Avas on the point of becom- 
ing her chief magistrate. One of our fellow-passengers, a citizen of 
Nashville, witnessing my astonishment, asked me, whether in France, 
our public men, that is to say, the servants of the public, lived very dif- 
ferently from other citizens ? ' Certainly,' said I ; ' thus, for example, 
the majority of our generals, all our ministers, and even the greater part 
of our subaltern administrators, would think themselves dishonored, and 
would not dare to receive any one at their houses, if they only possessed 
such a residence as this of Jackson's ; and the modest dwellings of your 
illustrious chiefs of the revolution, Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, 



310 JACKSON. 

&c., would only inspire them with contempt and disgust. They must, 
first have in the city an immense and vast edifice, called a hotel, in wliich 
two large families could live with ease, but which they fill with a crowd 
of servants strangely and ridiculously dressed, and whose only employ- 
ment, for the most part, is to insult those honest citizens who come on 
foot to visit their master. They must also have another large establish- 
ment in the country, which they call a chateau, and in which they ac- 
cumulate all the luxuries of furniture, decorations, entertainments, and 
dress — in fact, every thing that can make them forget the country. — 
Then they must have, to enable them to go from one to the other of these 
habitations, a great number of carriages, horses, and servants.' ' Very 
w^U,' interrupted the Tennessean, shaking his head as if in doubt, ' but 
who provides these public officers with all the money thus swallowed up 
in luxury, and how do the affairs of the people go on ?' ' If you ask 
them, they will tell you that it is the king who pays them, although I 
can assure you that it is the nation, which is borne down by taxes for the 
purpose ; as to business, it is both well and badly attended to, but gene- 
rally the latter.' ' And why do you submit to such a state of things ?' — 
' Because we cannot remedy it.' 'What! you cannot remedy it? A 
nation so great, so enlightened as the French, cannot prevent its officers, 
magistrates, and servants, from enjoying, at their expense, a scandalous 
and immoral luxuriousness, and at the same time not attending to their 
duties ! whilst we, who have just assumed our name among nations, are 
enjoying the immense advantage of only having for magistrates, men 
who are plain, honest, laborious, and more jealous of our esteem than 
solicitous for wealth. Permit me to believe that what you have told is 
only pleasantry, and that you wished to amuse yourself for a moment 
with a poor Tennessean who has never visited Europe. But rest assured, 
that, however ignorant we may be of what passes on the other side of the 
water, it is not easy to make us credit things which militate so strongly 
against good sense and the dignity of man.' Do what I could, I could 
never make this good citizen of Nashville believe that I was not jesting, 
and was obliged to leave him in the belief that we w^ere not worse go- 
verned in France than in the United States. 

" General Jackson successively showed us his garden and farm, which 
appeared to be well cultivated. We every where remarked the greatest 
order, and most perfect neatness ; and we might have believed ourselves 
on the property of one of the richest and most skilful of the German far- 
mers, if, at every step, our eyes had not been afflicted by the ^dd specta- 
cle of slavery. Every body told us that General Jackson's slaves were 
treated with the greatest humanity, and several persons assured us, that 
it would not surprise them, if, in a short time, their master, who already 
had so many claims on the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, should at- 
tempt to augment it still more, by giving an example of gradual emanci- 
pation to Tennessee, which would be the more easily accomplished, as 
there are in this State but seventy-nine thousand slaves in a population 
of four hundred and twenty-three thousand, and from the public mind be- 
coming more inclined than formerly to the abolition of slavery. 

" On returning to the house, some friends of General Jackson, who 



JACKSON. 311 

probably had not seen him for some time, begged him to show them the 
arms presented to him in honor of his achievements during the last war ; 
he acceded to their request with great politeness, and placed on a table, 
a sword, a sabre, and a pair of pistols. The sword was presented to him 
by Congress ; the sabre, I believe, by the army which fought under his 
command at New Orleans. These two weapons, of American manufac- 
ture, were remarkable for their finish, and still more so for the honorable 
inscriptions with which they were covered. But it was to the pistols, 
that General Jackson wished more particularly to draw our attention ; 
he handed them to General La Fayette, and asked him if he recognized 
them. The latter, after examining them attentively for a few minutes, 
replied, that he fully recollected them, to be a pair he had presented in 
1778 to his paternal friend Washington, and that he experienced a real 
satisfaction in finding them in the hands of one so worthy of possessing 
them. At these words the face of old Hickory was covered with a mod- 
est blush, and his eye sparkled as in a day of victory. ' Yes ! I believe 
myself worthy of them,' exclaimed he, in pressing the pistols and La- 
Fayette's hands to his breast ; ' if not from what I have done, at least for 
what I wished to do for my country.' All the bystanders applauded this 
noble confidence of the patriot hero, and were convinced that the 
weapons of Washington could not be in better hands than those of 
Jackson." 

In October, 1825, General Jackson was nominated by the Legislature 
of Tennessee, a candidate for the Presidency. He soon after resigned 
his seat in the United States Senate, and retired to private life. In May, 
1826, he was nominated for the Presidency, by a meeting of citizens in 
Philadelphia. Active measures were taken by his friends to insure his 
success, and it was not forgotten to place his military talents in a daz- 
zling light before the people. At an anniversary of our independence, 
which was celebrated at Fayetteville in Tennessee, he addressed an as- 
sembly, as follows : 

" Your cordial welcome is grateful to my feelings. It recalls to my 
recollection the urbanity and hospitality which were extended to me and 
my troops by the citizens of this town and country, in 1813, while encamp- 
ed in its vicinity, on their march to protect our southern frontier frqni 
the ruthless savage. Sir, the orderly conduct of the brave men I had 
the happiness then to command, was honorable to them, to me, and to 
their country. Those high-minded men, whom patriotism alone had led 
to the tented field, to defend their country and their country's rights, 
could not trespass on, or infringe the rights and privileges of their fellow 
citizens of Fayetteville and of Lincoln county. These were the wealth 
and sinew of your country — they were the citizen soldiers, who appre- 
ciated, above all earthly blessings, their liberties achieved by their fore- 
fathers, and had sworn to hand them down, unimpaired, to their children, 
or die in the attempt. With such an army your rights could not be 
infrmged, nor your property molested. In the ranks of such men, order, 
discipline, and strict subordination, were easily introduced and main- 
tained. It was the prowess of those citizen soldiers that enabled me so 
promptly and effectually to terminate a savage war — to meet and van- 



312 JACKSON. 

quish their more savage allies, the British, at New Orleans, which gave 
security to j'^our borders, and peace to the nation. I, Sir, was only a 
humble instrument in the hands of a wipe and superintending Provi- 
dence, for the accomplishment of those important and beneficial ob- 
jects. 

" My humble efforts in the service of my country, whether in the field 
or cabinet, I am fearful, are too highly appreciated by you. I can with 
candor, however, declare, that in every situation, to which I have been 
called by my fellow citizens, my best judgment has been exercised, and 
unceasing exertions been employed, to promote the best interests of 
my country. How far I have succeeded, is evidenced by your approba- 
tion. 

" You, Sir, have been pleased to pass in review my conduct in the late 
presidential contest. I trust you will believe me candid, when I assure 
you, that I have too long practised the pure principles of republicanism 
to abandon them at this late period of my life. I have always been 
taught to believe that ours is a government based upon the will of the 
people, and established for their prosperity and happiness exclusively. — 
In the adoption of our Constitution, the people secured to themselves the 
right of choosing their own agents to administer the government agreea- 
bly to their own will, as expressed by the voice of a majority. Surely, 
then, in the exercise of these important rights, they ought to be left to 
the dictates of their own unbiassed judgments. Acting, Sir, in accor- 
dance to these fundamental principles of our government, and having laid 
it down as a rule from which I have never departed, ' neither to seek, 
nor decline office, when freely offered by the people,' I could nor inter- 
fere, in any manner whatever, in that contest, while either before the 
people, or the people's representatives. Your approbation of my course 
is, therefore, truly gratifying, and particularly so, as my conduct on that 
occasion was dictated by my best judgment. 

" For the kind solicitude you have expressed for my promotion in the 
estimation of my fellow-citizens, I tender you my sincere thanks." 

In 1828, General Jackson was present at New Orleans, at the celebra- 
tion of the eighth of January ; the anniversary of the victory, to 
which his energy and decision had contributed so much. He was hos- 
pitably welcomed by the city authorities, and the enthusiasm of the day 
was greatly augmented by his presence. 

As the period, which was to decide the new Presidential election ap- 
proached, the excitement of the contending parties increased. In the au- 
tumn of 1828, the election took place, and the result was the choice of Gene- 
ral Jackson as President of the United States. Before departing for the 
seat of government, he met with a severe affliction in the death of Mrs. 
Jackson. The loss bore heavily upon him for some time. 

Towards the close of January, 1829, General Jackson and suite left the 
Hermitage for the seat of Government. He reached Washington early 
in February, in a plain carriage, and escorted by ten or twelve horsemen. 
On the 4th of March, the ceremony of his inauguration took place in the 
Senate chamber. His address upon the occasion was short, but appro- 
priate and sufficient. 



JACKSON. 313 

President Jackson organized his Cabinet by appointing Martin Van 
Buren, of New York, Secretary of State ; Samuel D. Ingham, of Penn- 
sylvania, Secretary of the Treasury ; John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, Sec- 
retary of War ; John Branch, of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy ; 
and John M. Berrien, of Georgia, Attorney General. 

One of the first acts of the new administration was a sweeping remo- 
val from office of all those who had been actively opposed to his election. 
For this he was much censured by many, and there is no doubt but that 
a good deal of private calamity was occasioned by the act. His friends, 
however, have asserted, though without the shadow of truth, that such 
persons only were removed, as the public good required. 

On the opening of Congress in December, 1829, the first message of 
the President was d-^livered. In this document, he recommended the 
amendment of that r,art of our Constitution, which relates to the election 
of President and Vi-'.e President, so that all intermediate agency in the 
election might be removed. 

He believed, that the purity of our government would be promoted by 
the exclusion of members of Congress, from all appointments in the gift 
of the President. 

He advised, that the attention of Congress should be directed to the 
modification of the Tariff. 

He recommended that no more first-rate ships should be built, but that 
(he materials of marine architecture should rather be collected and placed 
in situations where they might readily be put to use. 

On the 27th of May, the President rejected the bill, which originated 
in the House of Representatives, and passed that House, and also the 
Senate, authorizing a subscription of stock in the Maysville and Wash- 
ington Turnpike Road Company, in Kentucky. This bill was returned 
to the House of Representatives, with the President's objections thereto. 

In December, 1830, Congress again assembled, and President Jackson 
presented his second message to the Representatives of the nation. 
Previous to the close of this Congressional session, a rupture took place 
between the President and Mr. Calhoun, Vice-President of the United 
States, which gave rise to a voluminous correspondence between the 
parties concerned. 

The correspondence was published at the adjournment of Congress. 
This decisive step plainly indicated a division among the friends of the 
administration; and as the influence of the Vice President predominated 
in the Southern, and he was not without friends in the Middle States, 
his appeal began to affect injuriously the administration itself, from a 
conviction that its head was operated upon by improper feelings and pre- 
judices. 

'^ "In this oosture of affairs, the country was astonished by the infor- 
mation promulgated through the official journal at the seat of Govern- 
ment, ^B'U iiOth, 1831, that the Cabinet Ministers of the President had 
resig«<»<t, ana the most lively curiosity was manifested to learn the 
caui-''^ -^ ui^B unexpected and unprecedented movement. This curiosity 

♦American Annual Register. 
40 



314 7..CKS0N. 

was not speedily fifratified. The letters of the several members of the 
Cabinet were published, but they served to inflame rather than to gratify 
the public feeling. 

" The mystery was fmally developed by a communication of the At- 
torney General to the public, in which the cause of the want of harmony 
in the aduunslration was attributed to a determination to compel the fami- 
lies of the dismissed members to associate with the wife of the Secretary 
of War. 

" By this statement it appeared that these ladies had, in accordance 
with the general understanding of the female part of society at Washing- 
ton, declined to visit the family of the Secretary of War, and that this 
neglect, being resented by that gentleman, had produced a coolness be- 
tween him and the heads of those families. As the President warmly 
espoused the feelings of the Secretary of War, as of an old and confiden- 
tial friend, it was rumored, early in tlie year, that their removal would 
be a consequence of this resentment ; and the Attorney General stated, 
that about tliat time a confidential friend of the President (Richard M. 
Jolnison) called upon him and the other refractory members, as from the 
President, and intimated to them, that unless they would consent to at 
least a formal intercourse between their families and that of the Secreta- 
ry of War, he had determined to remove them from office. They re- 
plied, that while they felt bound to maintain a frank and harmonious in- 
tercourse with their colleagues, they would not permit any interference 
with the social relations of their families, and wholly refused to coinpjy 
u'ith the request. Other friends, however, interfered, and the President 
was induced to waive any further prosecution of the subject at tlu\t 
time. 

" To that refusal, however, he attributed the want of harmony of the 
Cabinet, and its consequent dissolution. 

" This charge, from a high and unquestioned source, imputing so discre- 
ditable and undignified an interference with the private and domestic rela- 
tions of the members of his Cabinet, produced a strong impression upon 
tlie public mind ; and, with the view of obviating that unfavorable im- 
pression, a difi'erent version was soon furnished of these transactions, by 
the friends of the administration. According to this version, it seemed 
that the President, believing that a combination had been entered into 
by the Vice-President and a portion of his Cabinet, to drive tlie Secreta- 
ry of War from the administration, by excluding his family from society, 
had determined on re-organizing his Cabinet, unless its members would 
consent to meet upon terms of harmonious intercourse. With the view 
of averting that result, Mr. Johnson called upon the members of the 
Cabinet, and suggested to them the propriety of associating with the 
family of the Secretary of War, or at least of assenting to a formal inter- 
course, which would be all that the President could desire. In making 
this proposition, Colonel Johnson asserted, that he was actuated solely by 
a desire Ui prevent a dissolution of the Cabinet ; that it was upon his 
own authority ; and thai he was in no shape authorized by the President 
to make any such requisition. 

" This version was sustained by an authorized publication on the "art 



JACKSON. 315 

of the President, while that of the Attorney General was supported by 
tlie testimony of tlie Secretaries of the Navy and of the Treasury. It 
was aowever, impossible to avoid the conclusion, that, to the influence 
of these domestic dissensions, the dissolution of the Cabinet was to be 
solely attributed, and that the cause assigned in the letter of the Secreta- 
ry of State, was merely ostensible, and with the design of diverting the 
public attention from these discreditable occurrences. The satisfaction 
that was felt by the community at large at the breaking up of the most 
incompetent Cabinet, that was ever called to the administration of the 
Government of the United States, in some measure compensated for the 
manner in which it was dissolved. This satisfaction was increased by 
the character of the gentlemen invited to act as their successors." 

The new Cabinet, which was not completely organized until late in 
the summer of 1831, was constituted as follows : 

Edward Livingston, of Louisiana, Secretary of State. 

Louis McLank, of Delaware, Secretary of the Treasury. 

Lewis Cass, of Ohio, Secretary of War. 

Levi Woodbury, of New-Hampshire, Secretary of the Navy. 

Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, Attorney General. 

This Cabinet was not only, in every particular, superior to that which 
preceded it, but might fairly compare, in point of talent and ability, with 
that of any previous administration, and its character furnished strong 
testimony of the tribute paid to public opinion in the selection of his pub- 
lic advisers by a Chief Magistrate of great personal popularity. 

The determination adopted by General Jackson, upon his accession to 
the Presidency, not to enforce the Indian intercourse act, whenever its 
provisions should bring the Government of a State into collision with 
that of the United States, now began to produce the most unhappy con- 
sequences. Encouraged by the conviction, that they could proceed 
without molestation, the Government of Georgia commenced the execu- 
tion of what it had only threatened, under the preceding administration. 
Shortly after the period designated for the extension of the jurisdiction 
of the State, over the Cherokee territory, the writs of the State Courts 
were issued against residents in the Indian territory, and the Cherokees 
were tried before the State tribunals, without any regard being paid to 
their pleas to the jurisdiction of the Court before which they were sum- 
moned. 

" In the case of George Tassel, a Cherokee, charged with the murder 
of another Cherokee upon the Indian Territory, an effort was made to 
procure the decision of the Supreme Court, upon the constitutionality of 
the State laws. After his trial and condemnation, by the Superior 
Court for Hall County, a writ of error was issued from the Supreme 
Court of the United States, and a citation was served upon Governor 
Gilmer, on the 22d of December, 1830, requiring the State of Georgia, to 
appear before the Supreme Court, at Washington, on the second Monday 
of January, to shew cause why the judgment in that case should not be 
reversed. As the question in this cause was simply concerning the 
validity of the treaties between the United States and the Cherokee 
tribe, it was obviously within the jurisdiction of the Federal Judiciary 



316 JACKSON. 

wliich, by the second section of the third article of the Constitution, is 
declared to extend 'to all cases in !n\v and equity, arising under this 
Constitution, the laws of the United States and treaties made or which 
shall be made, under their authority.' " 

" Governor Gilmer, however, regarding it as an usurpation of authori- 
ty, immediately transmitted the citation to the Legislature, Avith a mes- 
sage exhorting that body to take measures to resist any interference on 
the part of the Federal Judiciary, with the jurisdiction of the criminal 
Courts of the State. 

Upon the reception of this message, the following resolutions were 
proposed by the committee to which the subject was referred, and were 
passed by the Legislature. 

"Resolved, That the State of Georgia will never so far compromit her 
sovereignty as an independent State, as to become a party to the case 
sought to be made before the Supreme Court of the United States, by the 
writ in question. 

" Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor, be, and he is hereby 
authorized, to communicate to the Sheriff of Hall County, by express, so 
much of the foregoing resolutions, and such orders as are necessary to 
insure the full execution of the laws, in the case of George Tassel, 
convicted of murder in Hall County.' " 

" Orders were accordingly given to the Court and the Sheriff, to disre- 
gard any process from the United States' Courts, and the execution of 
the unfortunate Indian took place on the 2Sth of December, pursuant to 
his sentence. 

The subsemient arrest and treatment of the missionaries are well re- 
membered. These acts apparently received the countenance and sup- 
port of the General Government. 

Tlie twenty-second Congress of the United States convened in Decem- 
ber, 1831. The customary message of the President at this time was 
received with considerable favor by the people. 

One of the most prominent acts of this session of Congress, was the 
rejection by the Senate, of the nomination of Martin Van Buren, by the 
President, as Minister to England. This rejection is said to have been a 
subject of much irritation to General Jackson. 

Another and more important question which agitated Congress, was 
tliat of renewing the charter of the present Bank of the United States. 
After much discussion, this bill passed the House and Senate, and was 
submitted to the President, by whom it was rejected, and returned with 
his objections. These objections have been too recently before the read- 
er to be acceptable in this place. A great sensation was produced 
throughout the Union by the promulgation of the veto message ; and the 
result of the excitement was perhaps fiivorable to the man, wlio had pos- 
sessed the independence to pursue such a course. On the 13th of July, 
the Senate resumed the bank subject, and, after some debate, the question 
was put, "whether the bill should become a law, the President's objections 
to tlie contrary notwithstanding," and was decided in the negative. 

Tlie next public paper of moment, wliich proceeded froni" the Presi- 
dent, was the proclamation issued against the ordinance of the South 



JACKSON. 317 

Carolina Convention, assembled at Columbia. The proceedings of this 
Convention had been watched with intense interest by the people of the 
United States, and when the deliberations resulted in the plainly avowed 
threat of Nullification, conjecture was busy in imagining the course 
which would be pursued by the President, at so alarming a crisis. No 
sooner was his proclamation issued, denouncing the measures of the 
Convention, than it was met by the most cheering responses from all 
parts of the Union. This document may be ranked among the ablest 
and most popular state papers ever promulgated. Few, perhaps, have 
been more read and applauded. A counter proclamation from Governor 
Hayne soon followed, warning the good people of South Carolina against 
" the insidious attempts of the President of the United States to seduce 
them from their allegiance." Fortunately the excitement has been 
allayed without bloodshed, by the removal of the most prominent causes 
for complaint. 

On the 13lh of February, 1833, the two Houses of Congress met in 
the Representatives' chamber, to count the votes for a President and 
Vice-President of the United States for four years from the 4th of 
March ensuing. The ballots were opened by the President of the 
Senate, when they were examined, and the certificate of the vote read by 
the tellers. The official result was as follows : 

For President, Jackson, - - 219 Clay, - - 49 
For Vice-President, Van Buken, - 189 Sergeant, - - 49 
The majority for General Jackson was declared to bo 145. His inau- 
guration took place with the usual ceremonies on the 4th of March. 

On the 6lh of May, General Jackson, with the members of liis Cabinet, 
and his private secretary, left Washington in compliance with the invi- 
tation of the " Monumental Committee" at Fredericksburg, to lay the 
corner-stone of the pillar, to be erected in honor of the mother of Wash- 
ington. The President and his party embarked in the large and com- 
modious steamer Cygnet. " The day," says a correspondent of the N. 
Y. Mirror, " was mild, and the air soft and refreshing. After the com- 
pany had assembled on board, they paid their respects to the Executive, 
which that venerable patriot received with the ease and grace of the 
most finished gentleman of the old school. They ther) separated ; some 
of the party went upon the upper deck, to admire the picturesque and 
beautiful scenery of the surrounding country, wlience, from the north 
round to the south, lay a line of high grounds, forming within their in- 
terior an extensive amphitheatre. On the south, the broad and peaceful 
Potomac, stretching as far as the eye could reach. On the eastern 
branch of the river was to be seen the navy yard, and several of the 
public armed vessels lying in the stream, with our flag floating on the 
breeze ; and, on the western branch, we had a distant but beautiful view 
of Georgetown, as it slopes from the high grounds to the river ; and be- 
tween that and the navy yard, was to be seen the city of Washington, 
whence we had just taken onr departure ; and from our situation we 
had, at one glance, a view of the bridge crossing the river, which ex- 
ceeds a mile in extent, the Chief Magistrate's house, and the capitol, 
with its splendid dome, rearing its head over every other object Among 



318 JACKSON. 

ihose who went upon the upper deck were the heads of department. A 
group of ladies, with their attendants, were seated in the after part of the 
boat ; and an excellent band of music Avas playing several national airs, 
as the steamer glided on her way, and shortly arrived at the city of 
Alexandria. General Jackson had, just previous to the boat's reaching 
the wharf, retired to the cabin, and had taken his seat at a long table, 
which had been set preparatory for dinner ; he was seated on the west 
side, and next to the berths, there being barely room enough left be- 
tween the berths and table for a person to pass, by moving sideways. 
Upon his left sat Mrs. Thruston, the wife of Judge Thruston, of Wash- 
ington ; and on the opposite side of the table sat Major Donaldson, the 
General's private secretary ; Mr. Potter, a clerk in one of the depart- 
ments at Washington ; and Captain Broome, of the marine corps. The 
President was reading a newspaper. While in this situation, (there 
being no other person in the cabin or near him,) a large number of 
citizens came on board, as it was supposed, to pay their respects to him. 
Among the number was Randolph, late a lieutenant in the navy. He 
made his Avay into the cabin, and after speaking to Captain Broome, who 
had long been acquainted with him, he immediately advanced between 
the table and the berths toward the President, as if to address him. The 
President did not know him, and it seems that Captain Broome did not 
mention his name, because, he said, he believed that the object of his 
visit was to present a petition, praying to be restored to the navy again ; 
still, as the captain did not know that that was the object of his visit, 
and fearing, as he said, that he might intend to commit some act of 
violence, he stepped quickly to the same side of the table, and advanced 
up to and near Randolph, who had by this time come so near General 
Jackson as to be observed by him, who, supposing it was some person 
about to salute him, said that he was afflicted with a severe pain in his 
side, and begged to be excused for not rising ; and, seeing that Randolph 
had some difficulty in pulling off his glove, he stretched out his hand 
toward him, saying, at the same time, " Never mind your glove, sir." 
Upon this, Randolph thrust one hand violently into the President's face ; 
but, before he could make use of the other, or repeat his blow. Captain 
Broome seized and drew him off toward the door. A part of the table 
was broken down in the scuffle. Mr. Potter thrust his umbrella at Ran- 
dolph across the table, at the moment Captain Broome seized him ; 
whereupon Randolph's friends clenched him, hurried him out of the 
cabin, and off from the boat, leaving his hat behind. This was done so 
quickly, that the few persons who were near the President were not aware 
of it, as they had all turned around after pushing Randolph away, to in- 
quire whether or not the Chief Magistrate was much hurt. He was so 
confined behind the table, that he could not rise with ease, nor could he 
seize his cane in time to defend himself. The news of this outrage was 
soon circulated around the boat, and at first it seemed so incredible that 
no one could be found to believe it ; all, however, immediately repaired 
to the cabin, and heard the President relate the story himself. 

" Had I been apprised," said he, " that Randolph stood before me, 1 
should have been prepared for him, and I could have defended myself. 



JACKSON 310 

No villain," said he, " has ever escaped me before ; and he would not, 
had it not been for my confined situation." 

Some blood was seen on his face, and he was asked whether he had 
been much injured ? 

" No," said he, " I am not much hurt ; but, in endeavoring to rise, I 
have wounded my side, which now pains me more than it did." 

About this time, one of the citizens of Alexandria, who had heard of 
the outrage, addressed the General, and said : " Sir, if you will pardon 
me, in case I am tried and convicted, I will kill Randolph, for this insult 
to you, in fifteen minutes ?"''^ 

" No, Sir," said the President, " I cannot do that. I want no man to 
stand between me and my assailants, and none to take revenge on my 
account. Had I been prepared for this cowardly villain's approach, I 
can assure you all, that he would never have the temerity to undertake 
such a thing again." 

" The spirits of the whole party had been much affected by this out- 
rage ; no one could think or talk of any thing else ; and it seemed that 
the sacred errand which the President was proceeding upon would be 
defeated. But, after the steamer had got under way from the fort, and 
after the report of the last cannon, fired as a salute in honor of the Chief 
Magistrate, had died away, some one exclaimed, " We are approaching, 
and shall soon be at Mount Vernon." Upon this the pulse of every 
heart on board Avas quickened, and every eye was turned toward the 
beautiful promontory, which projects into the river ; and upon the sacred 
mansion (which is situated upon the highest part of it) where once dwelt 
the father of his country. The band played a funeral dirge as we pass- 
ed his tomb, and then the steamer lay to for some time, and a small 
boat was seen gliding to the shore, bearing two gentlemen of the party, 
who landed on the plantation, and ascended the hill to the mansion. 
But few on board knew the object of the delay. In a few moments, 
however, they returned to the boat with three ladies, the descendants of 
Washington, and the residents of Mount Vernon, Avho had agreed to 
honor the occasion with their company. Upon reaching the deck of the 
steamer, they were introduced to General Jackson, when each presented 
him with a bunch of flowers culled from the garden which had been cul- 
tivated by the hands of the immortal Washington. This incident dis- 
pelled the gloom occasioned by the outrage already related, and the re- 
mainder of the passage was pleasant and agreeable. 

" The President was met at Potomac creek, nine miles from Ffedericks- 
burgh, by the Monument committee, and a long concourse of gentlemen 
on horseback, who escorted him to the heights north of Fredericksburgh, 
from whence was an extensive view of the beautiful and fertile valley of 
the Rappahannock, of the city itself, which is delightfully situated upon 
the south bank of the river, and likewise of the numerous and splendid 
country seats in the vicinity of the city. The view from this spot was 
grand and imposing beyond description. Here the President was met 
by several companies in uniform, under the command of Major Patten, 

*It has been well remarked, that this proposal was more insulting fl\an the assault. 



320 JACKSON. 

and conducted in an elegant open carriage, through the principal strixta 
in the city, to Doctor Wallace's, whose hospitable mansion was thrown 
open to him, as were the dwellings of all the members of the committee, 
and of the citizens, to the invited guests and numerous strangers then 
assembled. The kind, hospitable manner in which the citizens received 
and entertained their guests and friends, made an indelible impression 
upon all, and will long bo remembered with gratitude." 

On Tuesday the seventh, the day fixed upon for the ceremony, the 
city, at an early hour, was crowded to overflowing. At 10 o'clock, a 
procession was formed by the marshals of the day, and moved to the site 
of the monument. On the arrival of the column on the ground where 
repose the remains of the mother of Washington, a detachment of caval- 
ry wheeled to the left and formed outside of the green. The infantry 
were formed in line on the left, and the strangers and citizens formed a 
square, within which the President and heads of department, the Ma- 
sonic societies, and the ladies and relatives of the Washington family, 
the architect, the committee, marshals, mayor and common council, 
occupied the space about the monument. The spectacle was grand and 
imposing ; all seemed desirous of approaching as near as possible, in 
order to witness the ceremony. After an appropriate prayer from the 
Eev. E. C. M'Guire, an eloquent address was delivered by Mr. Bassett, 
one of the members of the monumental committee. 

To this address, the President made a reply, distinguished for its 
chaste and appropriate character ; a specimen of finished and touching 
eloquence that would have done honor to any statesman or orator that 
our country has produced. It was delivered with deep feeling, and lis- 
tened to by all with proud attention. Upon concluding it, the President 
deposited a plate, with a suitable inscription, in the place intended for it, 
and then the stone was laid, and the procession returned in the same 
order to the town-hall. 

" The day was concluded with a ball in the evening. The attention 
shown the venerable guest of Virginia by the citizens of the old domi- 
nion, furnished a striking illustration of the proverbial hospitality and 
generosity of that people. The deepest abhorrence was manifested and 
expressed by all at the attempt made at Alexandria to deprive them of 
the President's promised visit, to perform the patriotic and sacred rite 
which he had been invited to pay to the mother of Washington. 

" On the day following, at noon, the procession was again formed, and 
llie President was escorted to the high grounds north of the city, where 
he was first met by the procession. A line was formed by the military, 
and he reviewed the troops. From thence he was attended by the com- 
mittee and marshals to the Potomac creek, where he embarked for 
Washingtcn. On his return, and before the boat arrived at Mount Ver- 
non, the ladies from that place gave a pressing and earnest invitation to 
mm, and the lieads of department, and the others in his company, to 
land and pay a visit to the tomb of Washington, which he reluctantly 
declined for want of time, it being then near sundown. After landing 
the ladies, the boat soon reached Alexandria, where a national salute 



JACKSON. Jsasl 

» 

was fired, and the citizens having assembled on the piers, welcomed the 
President's return by loud and repeated cheering. 

" On reaching the city of Washington, a large concourse of citizens 
had assembled on the wharf. The mayor and common council waited 
upon the President in the cabin ; and the mayor. General Van Ness, de 
livered a spirited and feeling address to the President, expressing his 
regret, as also that of the citizens of Washington generally, at the wan- 
ton and dastardly attack made on the person of the Chief Magistrate ; 
to which, and to the resolutions of the citizens of Washington on the 
same subject, which had been read by Colonel Gardner, the President 
made a reply in his peculiarly happy style, and then left the boat with 
the mayor and common council ; and on landing he was cheered by the 
citizens until he reached his house." 

The war, which had long been waged along our western frontiers, 
having ended in the capture of many of the hostile Indians, it was 
thought advisable to retain the Chief Black Hawk and his son, to- 
gether with the Prophet and his son, as hostages. On their arrival at 
Washington, they waited on the President to receive his ordersi, The 
interview was friendly and satisfactory. 

The judicious plan, which has been recently carried into execution, of 
conveying to these sons of the forest an idea of the resources and popula- 
tion of our country, by means of showing to them some of the principal 
cities of the Union, has been justly commended. 

On Thursday, the 6th day of June, 1833, President Jackson set out on his 
journey to New England, accompanied by the Hon. Martin Van Buren, the 
Vice-President ; Mr. McLane, Secretary of State ; Governor Cass, Sec- 
retary of War ; and Major Donaldson, Private Secretary. The Presi- 
dent was welcomed at Baltimore with every demonstration of respect, 
by a large concourse of citizens. He left Baltimore on Saturday in the 
Stcam-boat Kentucky. On his passage, he stopped about twenty minutes 
at Chesapeake city, while the barges wore preparing to proceed through 
the canal. At Delaware city, the President and suite were received 
into the Ohio, and at New-Castle they disembarked with military sa- 
lutes, where the President was received by Governor Bennett of the 
State, and committees and delegates from Wilmington and all the towns 
in tlie vicinity. Again they embarked amid the salutes of the guns, 
" the streamers waving in the wind," and the shouts of the applauding 
multitudes. Long before his arrival, every convenient spot in and 
around the navy yard was densely thronged with anxious spectators. 
About five o'clock the President landed under a national salute, and 
was cheered with the oft repeated plaudits of the people. His onward 
progress was marked by the repeated congratulations of the citizens. 
Wlien he had reached the hotel, he showed himself from one of the 
windows, and was again received with enthusiasm. 

The public reception of the President at Philadelphia, took place on 
Monday. At an early hour the city was alive with the bustle of exten- 
sive preparation, and the streets through which the procession was to 
pass grew populous as he approached. From nine until twelve o'clock, 
the President remained at the State House to receive the compliments of 
41 



322 JACKSON. 

his fellosv-citizens. At the latter hour he proceeded on horseback to 
Arch-street, where he reviewed the military. The President was dressed 
in a suit of deep black, and passed along a great portion of the route 
with his hat oil". The appearance of the military who assembled to an 
immense number was imposing and efiective. Towards five o'clock the 
procession reached the City Hotel, and the President alighted, evidently 
gratified with a reception at once so respectful and so general. 

The next day the President embarked on board the People's Line 
steam-boat Philadelphia ; she moved off from the wharf, and a salute of 
twenty-one guns announced the departure of the President on his northern 
tour. He stopped for about twenty nn'nutes at Burlington, and thence 
crossed over to Bristol, whence he proceeded to Bordentown. After a 
short delay in this place, he next proceeded to Lamberton, where he took 
carriage for Trenton. Here he dined, and soon after passed on to Prince- 
ton, where he spent the night. The next morning he proceeded in a car- 
riage to New Brunswick, and thence to Perth Amboy. 

Having spent half an hour at Amboy, he went on board the North 
America, and was received with proper honors by the company, with 
whom he dined. On passing the Narrows, salutes were fired from forts 
Hamilton and La Fayette. The General took his station on the upper 
•.uarter deck, where he appeared to be highly delighted with the beautiful 
.ppearance of the bay, harbor, and fortifications. Salutes were fired by 
vessels of various nations; three steamers, elegantly decorated, and 
crowded with passengers, attended the North America all the way, and, 
on approaching the city, numerous steam and sail boats were plying about 
the river, which, xvith the crowds of men and women in the Castie and 
Battery, and on the housetops in the neighborhood, gave to the whole 
scene a singular brilliancy of efl'ect. 

On Saturday, the President and his suite embarked from New York, 
and arrived at New Haven, at about three in the afternoon. Having 
passed through Newport, Providence and Dedham, the President arrived 
on the 21st of June, at Roxbury, where he was very handsomely received. 
He arrived in Boston the same afternoon, and was greeted by an immense 
concourse of citizens. On Wednesday, he visited Cambridge, where the 
degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by the President of Harvard 
University. From Cambridge he passed with his suite to Charlestown, 
accompanied by the Governor and other officers of State. 

On Thursday, June 27, the President passed through Lynn, Salem; 
Marblehead, and Andover, to Lowell. He had intended to proceed as 
far north as Portland, but on reaching Concord, N. H., he found that his 
strength would not enable him to undergo a repetition of the labors which 
the various engagements he had made would require of him. He was 
therefore under the necessity of giving up his journey, and returning to 
Washington. He would have found it impossible to have borne up so 
long under the fatigue of exchanging salutations and greetings with so 
many thousands of his fellow-citizens, but for the animation inspired by 
their enthusiastic kindness. 

It was during his absence on this journey that the order was given for 
the removal of the depositee from the Bank of the United States, which led 



JACKSON. 

to the expulsion of Mr. Duane from the cabinet, and the temporary eleva- 
tion of Mr. Taney to the office of Secretary of the Treasury. This act 
rendered the last years of his administration a scene of continued agitation 
and disorder. By one party it was sustained as a bold and patriotic 
movement, necessary to arrest the political action of a dangerous moneyed 
institution. By the other it was denounced with equal ardor, as an act 
equally contrary to the good faith of the Republic, the spirit of our insti- 
tutions, and the letter of the law. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed 
for the calm and reflective discussion of this exciting topic. The ques- 
tion was duly brought before both Houses of Congress. In the Represen- 
tative branch, where the administration held a firm majority, no definite 
action was ever held on the precise point at issue ; the debate turned and 
resolutions were adopted on topics merely collateral and not involving the 
main subject of controversy. 

In the Senate the following resolution was adopted : " Resolved, that 
the President, in the late executive proceedings in relation to the revenue, 
has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Con- 
stitution and laws, but in derogation of both." This was passed on the 
28th of March, 1834, by the following vote : Yeas. Messrs. Bibb, Black, 
Calhoun, Clay, Clayton, Ewing, Frelinghuysen, Kent, Knight, Leigh, 
Mangum, Naudain, Poindexter, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Robbins, Silsbee, 
Smith, Southard, Sprague, Swift, Tomlinson, Tyler, Waggaman, Web- 
ster — 26. Nays. Messrs. Benton, Brown, Forsyth, Grundy, Hendricks, 
Hill, Kane, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Linn, McKean, Moore, 
Morris, Robinson, Shepley, Tallmadge, Tipton, White, Wilkins, Wrigh) 
—20. 

In the session of 1836-37, on motion of Mr. Benton of Missouri, the 
following resolution was adopted by the Senate : '■'Resolved, that the said 
resolve (above given) be expunged from the journal ; and for that purpose, 
that the secretary of the Senate, at such time as the Senate may appoint, 
shall bring the manuscript journal of the session 1833-34 into the Senate, 
and, in the presence of the Senate, draw black lines round the said re- 
solve, and write across the face thereof, in strong letters, the following 
words : ' Expunged, by order of the Senate, this 16th day of January, in 
the year of our Lord 1837/ " 

On agreeing to this resolution the vote was as follows : Yeas. Messrs. 
Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Dana, Ewing of Illinois, Fulton, Grundy, 
Hubbard, King of Alabama, Linn, Morris, Nicholas, Niles, Page, Rives, 
Robinson, Ruggles, Sevier, Strange, Tallmadge, Tipton, Walker, Wall, 
Wright — 24. Nays. Messrs. Bayard, Black, Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, 
Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Hendricks, Kent, Knight, Moore, Prentiss, Preston, 
Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson, Webster, White — 19, 

The resolution having been agreed to, Mr. Benton observed that noth- 
ing now remained but for the secretary to carry it into effect, and moved 
that it be executed upon the spot. The secretary thereupon produced the 
record, and expunged the obnoxious resolution. No sooner had this 
been done, than loud and repeated hisses were heard from various parts 
of the gallery. The chair inunediately ordered the galleries to be cleared. 
Mr Benton hoped that tlie galleries would not be cleared, but that the 



324 JACKSON. 

bank ruffians who had created the disturbance would be arrested. The 
order to clear the galleries was revoked, and the sergeant-at-arms pro- 
ceeded to arrest one of the supposed culprits. Mr. Benton moved that he 
be brought to the bar of the Senate ; the motion was carried. It was af- 
terward suggested by the same Senator that he should go to the clerk'g 
table and there purge himself of the contempt by oath. A motion was 
here made for his discharge ; much confusion prevailed, but the motion 
was pressed *and carried. On being discharged from custody, the indi- 
vidual referred to advanced and addressed the chair. "Mr. President, 
am I not to be permitted to speak in my own defence ?" Chair to the ser- 
geant-at-arms. " Take him out." The occupant of the chair was Mr. 
Senator King of Alabama. 

The question of the removal of the deposites, and the important questions 
connected with their subsequent disposition, and the regulation of the cur- 
rency, were the engrossing and exciting topics during the last three years 
of President Jackson's administration. These topics are too near, too fa- 
miliar, and too much involved in the partisan discussions of the day, 
to form legitimate subjects of historical comment. The end of Gene- 
ral Jackson's policy is not yet wrought out. It began in the veto of the 
United States Baiilc, and has resulted in the universal suspension of specie 
payments. His first objection to the bank was on the ground that it had 
failed to furnish " a sound and uniform currency." It is for the historian 
to tell us how much his measures have improved it. 

General Jackson went into retirement at the Hermitage immediately on 
quitting the Presidential chair. He still continues to take an active inter- 
est in public affairs. We can only hope that the venerable Ex-President 
may live long enough to witness the restoration of his beloved country to 
her old prosperity. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States, was born 
at Kinderhook, in the State of New York, on the 5th day of December, 
1782. His parents were of Dutch descent, and in humble circumstances. 
He received the elements of his education in an academy of his native 
village, which he left at the age of fourteen years, to commence the study 
of the law, in the office of Francis Sylvester, Esq. a respectable practi- 
tioner of Kinderhook. The term of study required of candidates not edu- 
cated in college was then seven years. Six of them young Van Buren 
passed in his native village, the last in the city of York, in the office and 
under the direction of Mr. William P. Van Ness, a distinguished member 
of the bar, and a prominent leader of the Democratic party. By this 
gentleman he was introduced to the celebrated Aaron Burr, who mani- 
fested an unusual interest in his welfare, and is said by one of his biog- 
raphers to have treated him " with marked attention, and to have made 
every reasonable effort to secure his favorable regard." 

In November, 1803, in the twenty-first year of his age, Mr. Van Buren 
was admitted as an attorney at law to the bar of the Supreme Court, in 
the State of New York, and immediately commenced the practice of his 
profession at Kinderhook. At the first succeeding session of the Colum- 
bia County Court, he was enrolled in the list of its attorneys and counsel- 
lors. He took an early interest in local politics, and professed the princi- 
ples of the Democratic party. When this party, therefore, obtained a 
temporary ascendency in the appointing department of the State, Mr. Van 
Buren was appointed Surrogate of Columbia county. In 1809, he re- 
moved from the village of Kinderhook to the city of Hudson, for the im- 
provement of his professional prospects. Thus established in the capital 
of his native county, he may be considered to have entered on the most 
successful period of his professional life. 

The bar of Columbia county numbered several members of distinguished 
ability. Among them the most eminent, perhaps, was the celebrated 
Elisha Williams, who was a resident of Hudson at the time of Mr. Van 
Buren's removal there. The first jury lawyer of his State, if not of the 
country, Mr. Williams was at the same time an active and zealous politi- 
cian of the F'ederal school, and a prominent leader of the party in his 
section. Mr. Van Buren occupied a corresponding position in the Demo- 
cratic ranks ; and aspired to a distant competition with Mr. Williams in 
his efforts at the bar. Of Mr. Van Buren's speeches at the bar hardly a 
fragment has been preserved, and it is therefore impossible to form any 
estimate of his powers from printed reports. Of his appearance at the 
bar, in contrast with Mr. Williams, we have the following sketch from the 
pen of Mr. Attorney General Butler. It is to be taken with some degree 



826 VAN BUREN. 

of allowance, as tlio tribute of a pupil to his patron is too apt to be the 
language of panegyric ; and as the natural relations of Mr. Butler and 
Mr. Van Buren render neither of them a disinterested witness to the 
claims and merits of the other. 

" Never," says Mr. Butkn-, " were two men more dissimilar. Both were 
eloquent ; but the eloquence of Williams was declamatory and exciting ; 
that of Van Buren insinuating and delightful. Williams had the livelier 
imagination ; Van Buren the sounder judgment. The former presented 
the strong points of his case in bolder relief, invested them in a more bril- 
liant coloring, indulged a more unlicensed and magniticent invective, and 
gave more life and variety to his arguments by his peculiar wit and inim- 
itable humor : but Van Buren was his superior in analyzing, arranging, 
and combining tlie insulated materials, in comparing and weighing testi- 
mony, in unravelling t'he web of intricate affairs, in eviscerating truth 
from the mass of diversified and conflicting evidence, in softening the 
heart and moulding it to his purpose, and in working into the judgments 
of his hearers the conclusions of his own perspicuous and persuasive rea- 
sonings." We think this picture altogether too highly charged. That 
Mr. Williams was much the superior of Mr. Van Buren in a commanding 
and attractive eloquence there is no doubt ; and it is equally true that he 
excelled him in vivacity, wit, humor, and invective. Mr. Van Buren was 
never distinguished for any of these qualities, and though he undoubtedly 
possessed the faculty of arranging, combining, unravelling intricate affairs, 
eviscerating truth, and insinuating himself into the judgments of his 
hearers, it is gross injustice to Mr. Williams to intimate that he was infe- 
rior in any of these powers. 

Mr. Van Buren resided for seven years in Hudson, engaged in the ac- 
tive practice of his profession ; and managed with no little address as a 
party leader. His legal and partisan merits were so well appreciated, that 
on the accession of the Republican party, in 1S15, he was appointed Attor- 
ney General of the State. 

In 1S12, he had been elected a member of the State Senate from the 
then middle district; by which election he became a member of the Court 
for the revision of Errors. This sinudtaneous occupancy for a considera- 
ble period of the attorney generalship, an'd of a seat in the State Senate, 
accounts for the infrequency of his opinions in the Court of Errors. In 
1S16, in consequence of his official duties and his professional engage- 
ments, he removed from Hudson to Albany, where his practice became 
extensive and lucrative. In 1S19, his party had lost their ascendency in 
the council of appointment, and Mr. Van Buren was removed from the 
ofTice of Attorney General. In the following year the tables were turned, 
and a re-appointment was offered and declined. His last prc^essional effort 
before a jury is said to have been in the trials of the celebrated Astor case, 
and the case of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, in the city of New York, in 
the foil of 1827. It was during the trial of the latter case that the cele- 
brated Mr. Emmet fell in an apoplectic fit which terminated his life. In 
the spring of 182S, Mr. Van Buren appeared in the case of Varick vs. 
Jo^kson, before the Court of Errors at Albany. 

Of Mr. Van Buren's legal efforts, his biographer presents but a single 



VAN BUREN. 3f7 

specimen ; which is extracted from his argument in the case of Wilkes vs. 
Lio7i, before the Ccurt of Errors at Albany, in December, 1823, reported 
at length in the second of Cowen. From this argument we present a 
single passage, which illustrates the variation in Mr. Van Buren's 
opinions, at ditferent periods, on the binding obligation of legal and con- 
stitutional precedents. 

" The parties came here," said Mr. Van Buren, " to litigate a principle 
so fully and plainly established, in the Supreme Court, that the decision 
of the cause, there, though involving a large amount of property, was not 
deemed worth reporting. You saw that principle concurred in by Kent, 
Chief Justice, Thompson, Chief Justice, and Spencer, Van Ness, Yates, 
and Piatt, Justices ; after a series of discussions almost unparalleled in the 
history of any principle in our law. You saw the same question arising 
and the same principle established in neighboring States. From every 
source, opposition was hushed ; not only with men of books, but in the 
common walks of life. You knew that thousands of wills had been made 
upon that very principle, and that if you unsettled the rule, you opened 
Pandora's box. Yt)u knew it to be more important that the law should 
be settled, than how it should be settled. You secured to us a principle 
which had been established in the mind of every man for a long time ; 
and you were right, for the contrary would have been incalculably nus- 
chievous. You have not the moral power to change your ground, because 
it is not right. V^ho can know what the law of this State is, unless your 
decision is final ? Shall we look into your decisions under the idea that 
they are to be overturned by a new set of men Avho shall come here to- 
morrow ? A change of decision with a change of men would be a less 
evil in the Supreme Court of this State, or of the United States, because, 
from the tenure of the Judges' office, frequent changes are not to be 
looked for. This Court may change once in four years.* Are we barely 
enabled to say, ' these words meant a definite failure of issue yesterday, 
but whether this will be the law next year, I will tell you after election V 
The law of discretion, with the best of men and the best of judges, is, 
more or less, the creature of prejudice or passion. Yozir decisio/is should 
be as stable as the Constitution; they should be so, in order that the suitor 
may, at least, see one spot where there is an end of uncertainty." 

The comparison of these opinions with those subsequently advanced by 
Mr. Van Buren in his letter to Shcrrod Williams, indicates a very mate- 
rial change in his opinions on the points here involved. 

In the thirtieth year of his age Mr. Van Buren was elected to the 
State Senate, where his legal term of service commenced on the fourth 
of July, 1812 ; his actual entrance on the duties of the office, however, 
vp-as in the November following. The opposing candidate was Edward 
P. Livingston', then of the Federal party, though subsequently recognised 
as a Jackson Democrat. It was by the friends of De Witt Clinton that 
Mr. Van Buren's success was compassed. The question of " war or no 

• The Senators of the State of New York, elijrible every four yeai-s, to«rether 
with the Lieutenant Governor, Chancellor and Justices of the Supreme Court, 
constitute the Court for the correction of Errors. 



328 VAN BUREN. 

war" then agitated the whole counf/y. On the 29th of May, 1812, a few days 
before the declaration of war, a caucus was held at Albany, in which Mr. 
Van Buren took an active part. At that caucus De Witt Clinton was 
nominated to the presidency, in opposition to James Madison. . Mr. 
Clinton was opposed to the war. It may be reasonably inferred, then, 
that ni its early stages, Mr. Van Buren was also opposed to the war ; 
though the question is one of no great interest, involving only a matter of 
opinion, and reflecting, in any event, no discredit upon Van Buren. 
There is no doubt that at the period to which we refer, the test of Democ- 
racy was the policy of the Democratic Congressional Caucus. It was by 
the nomination of this body that Mr. Jefferson had been twice elected, 
and Mr. Madison already once. By the nomination of this caucus, Mr. 
Van Buren was unwilling to abide ; and by the Democratic party was re- 
garded as politically heterodox. 

During the autumn of 1S12, Mr. James A. Hamilton, subsequently dis- 
trict attorney of New York, under the administration of General Jackson, 
resided at Hudson, and formed an intimate connection with Mr. Van Buren. 
At this period these gentlemen rallied, nominally, under different standards ; 
out they were aiming at the same objects, to bring the war into disrepute, 
and through the agency of Mr. Clinton defeat the re-election of Madi- 
son. They both labored zealously in behalf of Mr. Clinton ; they were 
both loud and strong in their denunciations of his opponent. The jour- 
nals, which were sustained by them and their friends, used the most decided 
and violent language in condemnation of the war and its promoters. 

On the third of November, 1812, the Legislature met in Albany for the 
pvirpose of choosing electors. Mr. Van Buren took his seat as a member 
of the Senate. Governor Tompkins announced in his message that war 
had been declared. A committee, consisting of Messrs. Wilkins, Van 
Buren and Piatt, was appointed to draft a respectful answer. This docu- 
ment breathes any thing but approbation of the war. It is cold, brief, and 
studied. The following is the language of Mr. Van Buren : " The Senate 
fully concur with your excellency in the sentiment, that, at a period like 
the present, when our country is engaged in a war with one of the most 
powerful nations of Europe, difference of opinion on abstract points 
should not be suffered to impede or prevent our united and vigorous sup- 
port of the constituted authority of the nation." 

On the evening of the fourth of November, the Democratic members of 
the Legislature met in the Senate chamber to nominate candidates for presi- 
dential electors. The proposition before the caucus was "Madison and war" 
or " Clinton and peace." Mr. Van Buren spoke strongly for Clinton and 
peace. He was severe on Southern men and policy, and indulged in bit- 
ter sneers and sarcasms at the expense of the Old Dominion. In com- 
paring Madison with Clinton, he rated the former infinitely helow the lat- 
ter. He denounced the policy of the general government in plunging the 
nation, unprepared, into a war; and denounced the entire cabinet as un- 
worthy the confidence and support of the people. Mr. Van Buren carried 
his point, and the caucus decided that they would support no man who 
would vote for James Madison. 

Thus it appears that from 1811 to 1813. Mr. Van Buren was the asso- 



VAN BUREN. 

ciate and friend of that class of politicians opposed to the war ; that he was 
the opponent of Madison, and the adherent of Clinton. It is not our pur- 
pose to discuss the merits of the respective parties or candidates ; to assail 
or eulogize either the one or the other. Our only object is to make an 
impartial record of facts. When Mr. Madison was re-elected, December, 
1812, Mr. Van Buren was disinclined to continue his opposition, and made 
arrangements to transfer his influence to the Madison party. Having in- 
gratiated himself with Governor Tompkins, who possessed the confidence 
of the administration, and had sustained the war from its commencement, 
he was introduced to the attention of the General Government. The 
trials of Hall and Wilkinson offered an opportunity to the war department 
for bestowing considerable largesses upon a new supporter ; and Mr. Van 
Buren was suddenly converted into an advocate of the war, a supporter 
of Mr. Madison, and a professor of the current Virginia politics. In this 
complexion he continued during the war. 

In 1816, the gubernatorial term of Mr. Tompkins expired. During the 
same year Mr. Madison was to retire from the presidency. Promises had 
been made to the friends of Mr. Tompkins that he should receive the 
nomination to the successorship ; but it soon became apparent that Mr. 
Monroe and Mr. Crawford would be the prominent candidates. The 
friends of either of these gentlemen were willing to take Mr. Tompkins as 
Vice-President ; and he was accordingly designated as the candidate at 
Washington. While it was well understood that he would receive this 
nomination, a legislative caucus at Albany again put him before the people 
for Governor. In April he was re-elected to the office. In the following 
December he was elected to the vice-presidency, but did not resign the 
former station till the 24th of February, 1817. 

During the summer and autumn of 1816, it had become apparent to 
Mr. Van Buren that Mr. Clinton, as the head of the canal party, would 
be the next candidate for the gubernatorial chair. The canal policy was 
evidently in the ascendant. Till the convening of the Legislature in Jan- 
uary, 1817, Mr. Van Buren had been entirely non-committal on the sub- 
ject of internal improvements, and since his original rupture had been 
engaged in violent denunciations of Mr. Chnton. When the legislative 
nominating caucus was to be held, delegates were admitted from the Fede- 
ral counties. Previous to the convention several preliminary meetings 
were held by the anti-Clintonians, among whom Mr. Van Buren was 
then numbered, and one of them at his own house. It was then deter- 
mined that as soon as Mr. Clinton was nominated, the minority should 
withdraw. At length the grand caucus was held, on the 27th of March, 
1S17, and, as had been expected, Mr. Clinton received the nomination. 
As soon as the result was declared, Mr. Van Buren rose and moved that 
the nomination should be unanimous. This movement was utterly un- 
expected, and produced great confusion and consternation in the ranks of 
the anti-Clintonians. Some withdrew, others acquiesced in the measure, 
because they were too much surprised to think of opposition. Mr. Van 
Buren found himself once more safely landed among ihe friends of Mr. 
Clinton, and three weeks afterwards gave his first vote in favor of appro- 
priations for the canal. 

42 



330 VAN BUR EN. 

After the election of Governor Clinton, Mr. Van Buren ascertained that 
he could not obtain his confidence, and was soon found in an opposition. 
The course pursued in appointments to office was not approved by the 
Democratic party ; and an open rupture was soon the consequence. Mr. 
Van Buren and his friends withdrew their support from Mr. Clinton's 
measures, and prepared to oppose his re-election. 

In 1S19, Rufus King's term of service in the Senate of the United 
States expired. The New York Legislature convened in January, The 
Democratic members, Clintonian, and anti-Clintonian, united, were as 
three to one of the Federalists, Through Mr, Van Burcn's influence, 
the election of Senator was postponed ; no nomination being made by either 
branch of the Legislature, This body then adjourned, leaving the State 
in part unrepresented in the Senate, At this period the Federal newspapers 
were assailing Mr, Clinton and his friends for not supporting Mr. King, 
The newspapers under Mr, Van Buren's influence were making the most 
solemn declarations " that the Republicans would not move to the right or 
to the left. They would support their candidate and no other." 

During the summer of 1S19, Mr. Van Buren's intercourse with Mr. 
King was of a very familiar, if not confidential character ; and an ar- 
rangement was effected with the Federalists to elect Mr. King to the Sen- 
ate. With the anti-Clintonian party, an impression was created that the 
Clintonians would elect Mr. King if they did not ; and the ensuing session 
of the Legislature, Mr. King was elected by the unanimous vote of the 
Senate, and with but three dissenting votes in the House of Representatives. 
In the summer previous a pamphlet had been prepared, entitled " Consid- 
erations in favor of the appointment of Rufus King to the Senate of the 
United States," addressed to the Republican members of the New York 
Legislature, by one of their colleagues. This pamphlet was said to be the 
joint production of Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Benjamin F. Butler. In the 
autumn of the same year, Mr. Van Buren addressed a letter to one of his 
friends, in which a passage occurs which has been the subject of a good 
leal of comment, and which we therefore copy : 

" I should sorely regret to find any flagging on the subject of Mr. King. 
We are committed to his support. It is both wise and honest ; and we 
must have no fluttering in our course. Mr. King's views towards us are 
honorable and correct. The Missouri question conceals, so far as he is 
concerned, no plot, and we shall give it a true direction. You know 
what the feelings and views of our friends were, when I saw you ; and 
you know what we then concluded to do. My ' considerations,' &c., and 
the aspect of the Albany Argus, will show you that we have entered on 
the work in earnest. We cannot, therefore, look back. Let us not, then, 
have any halting. I will put my head on its propriety." 

In the winter of 1 SI 9-20, a public meeting was held at Albany to ex- 
press the feelings of its citizens on the extension of slavery beyond the 
Mississippi. Mr. Van Buren did not attend the primary meeting; at 
which his name was placed on the committee without his knowledge, but 
subsequently retained there by his own consent. When the large meet- 
ing was held Mr. Van Buren was absent from Albany on professional 
business. Resolutions were adopted, and a committee appointed to me- 



VAN BUR EN. "831 

moriulize Congress. On this committee Mr. Van Buren's name was 
placed during his absence. Their memorial was reported and adopted. 
On the return of Mr. Van Buren, he declined signing- the memorial or co- 
operating- with its friends, as he disapproved the sentiments contained in 
the resolutions. 

At the meeting of the Legislature, Governor Clinton directed their atten- 
tion to the question of admitting Missouri into the Union, with the right 
to hold slaves. The House of Representatives accordingly adopted a res- 
olution, instructing their Senators, and requesting the Representatives of the 
State in Congress, " to oppose the admission as a State in the Union of 
any territory not comprised in the original boundary of the United Slates, 
without making the prohibition of slavery therein an indispensable con- 
dition of admission." In this resolution the Senate, and Mr. Van Buren 
as one of the number, concurred. It was adopted without division or 
debate. 

On the sixth day of February, 1821, Mr. Van Buren wiv^^ appointed, by 
the Legislature of New York, a member of the Sc-iate of the United States. 
In the August following, he was returned a member of the convention to 
revise the Constitution of the State. In this convention he took an active 
part. Several of his speeches on the important questions which came be- 
fore it have been preserved. Some extracts from them we copy as favor- 
able specimens of his style and political opinions. Of the legislative 
power, and the executive veto, he speaks in the followiiig maruier : 

" Sir, such is the superior force and influence of legislative power — 
such is the reverence and regard with which it is looked up to, that no 
man in the community will have the temerity, on ordinary occasions, to 
resist its acts, or check its proceedings. I cannot illustrate this ])Osition 
more strongly than by a referenc'e to the Constitution of England. There 
the executive is a branch of the Legislature, and has an absolute negative. 
Surrounded as he is with prerogative, and placed far beyond the reach 
of the people, yet, since the year 1692, no objection has been made by the 
king of Great Britain to any bill presented for his approbation. Rather 
than produce the excitement and irritation which, even there, would re- 
sult from the rejection of a bill passed by the Parliament, he has resorted to 
means which have degraded the government, and dishonored the nation, 
to prevent the passage of bills which he should feel it his duty to reject. 
In the declaration of independence, in the catalogue of wrongs under 
which our fathers had been suffering, one of the most prominent was, that 
the king had exercised his prerogative, and had refosed his sanction to 
salutary laws. Gentlemen may therefore rest satisfied, that very little 
danger is to be apprehended on this subject." 

On the question of universal and unrestricted suffrage, we find the fol- 
lowing record of his opinion. He would only say, that among the many- 
evils which would flow from a wholly unrestricted suffrage, the following 
would be the most injurious, viz : — 

" First. It would give to the city of New York about twenty-five thou- 
sand votes; whilst, under the liberal extension of the right on the choice 
of delegates to this convention, she had but about thirteen or fourteen 
thousand. That the character of the increased number of votes would be 



332 VAN BUREN. 

such as would render their elections rather a curse than a blessing : which 
would drive from the polls all sober-minded people ; and such, he was 
happy to find, was the united opinion, or nearly so, of the delegation from 
that city. 

" Secondly. It would not only be injurious to them, but that injury 
would work an equally great one to the western and northern parts of the 
State. It was the present consolation of our hardy sons of the west, that, 
for their toils and their sufferings in reducing the wilderness to cultivation, 
they were cheered by the conviction, not only that they would be secure 
in the enjoyment of their dear-bought improvements, in consequence of 
their representation in the Legislature, but that any increase of that repre- 
sentation gave them a still greater influence there. That as far as it re- 
spected this State, their march and the march of empire kept pace. This 
arose from the circumstance of the representation in the State being 
founded on the number of electors ; and because almost every man in a 
new country was an elector, under the existing and contemplated qualifi- 
cations : whilst in the old counties, and especially in cities, there were 
great numbers who would not be embraced by them. So great was this 
effect, that the city of New York alone would, under the vote of the other 
day, have become entitled to additional voters, over those who voted at 
the election of delegates, equal, or nearly so, to the whole number of votes 
of Ontario or Genesee. The direct consequence of which would be, that 
the additional representation of fourteen members, which are next year to 
be distributed among the counties, would, instead of going principally to 
the west, be surrendered to the worst population of the old counties and 
cities. 

" And thirdly. The door would have been entirely closed against re- 
treat, whatever might be our after conviction, founded on experience, as to 
the evil tendency of this extended suffrage. 

" The just equilibrium between the rights of those who have, and those 
who have no interest in the government, could, when once thus surren- 
dered, never be regained, except by the sword." 

In December, 1821, Mr. Van Buren took his seat as a Senator of the 
United States ; at this time he was just entering on the thirty-ninth year 
of his age. Of Mr. Van Buren's service in this capacity, we must con- 
tent ourself with a very rapid summary. On his first appearance in that 
body he was elected a member of the committee on finance, and of the 
committee on the judiciary. His first speech in the Senate was on the 
claim of the Marquis de Maison Rouge ; involving a title to about half a 
million acres of the public lands. He spoke about two hours, but the 
subject was one of little interest, embracing no general principles, and af- 
fording no opportunity for display. Early in his senatorial career he 
united with ColonelJohnson in his labors for the abolition of imprisonment 
for debt. Another of his favorite topics was a proposition to amend the 
Constitution, to keep the choice of President and Vice-President from de- 
volving on the House of Representatives. He proposed also amendments 
of the judiciary system of the United States ; and advocated the establish- 
ment of a uniform system of bankruptcy. In reference to the public lands, 
he was in favor of a proposition to vest the lands in the States in which 



VAN BUREN. 333 

fhey were situated, on "some just and equitable terms." In the winter 
of 1827, he took an active part in the discussion relative to our intercourse 
with the British West India Colonies; but his opinions on this subject may 
be more properly considered at another point of his life. 

In February, 1824, the congressional caucus at Washington nominated 
Mr. Crawford for the presidency, and Mr. Van Buren was zealous in his 
support. At this election the aggregate vote of the colleges was 26 1 ; of 
which Mr. Crawford received 41, Mr. Clay 37, Mr. Adams 84, General 
Jackson 99. The number of primary votes in favor of the Adams elec- 
toral tickets was 166,112; in favor of the Jackson electoral tickets, 
153,733; making a majority in favor of the former of 12,739 votes. The 
election devolved on the House of Representatives, and Mr. Adams was 
elected on the first ballot. In the State of New York, the influence of 
Mr. Van Buren had given five of her electoral votes to Mr. Crawford. 
In the ultimate decision between Mr. Adams and General Jackson, Mr. 
Van Buren took no active part. He reserved himself for ulterior exigen- 
cies. It was not anticipated that Mr. Adams would be elected on the 
first ballot. The unexpected result prevented Mr. Van Buren from sig- 
nalizing himself in his service. 

In the active and ardent opposition that was immediately organized 
against the administration of Mr. Adams, Mr. Van Buren soon became 
noted for his zeal and activity. He opposed the mission to Panama. He 
opposed the appropriation of money by the General Government for in- 
ternal improvements, on the grounds both of unconstitutionality and inex- 
pediency. He had expressed himself in opposition to a high tariff policy ; 
but voted in favor of the tariffs of 1824 and 1828, in the latter instance in 
compliance with express instructions from the New York Legislature. He 
also took an active part in the reform of the press, by advocating the ju- 
dicious bestowal of the patronage of the Senate. " He had long been of 
opinion," he said, " that the public interest might be promoted, the condi- 
tion of the press, as well here (at Washington) as throughout the country, 
improved, and respect for the Senate, and economy in the publication of 
the proceedings of the Senate, better secured, by a judicious revision of the 
laws relating to the public printing at large. At a more convenient season, 
he hoped the subject would be revised ; and he promised himself the best 
results from such revision as the nature of the subject was susceptible of." 

De Witt Clinton died in February, 1828, and in the November following 
Mr. Van Buren was elected to succeed him in the gubernatorial chair. 
He was a minority Governor, however, as he was subsequently elected a 
minority President. The votes were for Van Buren 136,794; for 
Thompson, 106,444; and for Southwick, 33,345. Mr. Van Buren's 
good fortune here stood him in its usual stead. The division of his oppo- 
nents gained him his election. He accordingly resigned his seat in the 
Senate, and entered upon the office of Governor in January, 1829. 

His message to the Legislature was remarkable ; in so far as it first 
broached the scheme of the safety fund ; and as it gives Mr. Van Buren's 
opinions at length on the subject of State banking, it deserves a particular 
notice. In this message he says the most important business of the ses- 
sion is the question of renewing the charters of the several banks in the 



334 VANBUREN. 

State ; thirty-one charters would expire in the course of four years, with 
a capital of fifteen millions of dollars, and debts amounting to thirty mil- 
lions. He alludes to the difference between their situation, at that tmie, 
and the laying of the foundation of the banking system anew; and says, 
in view of the extent of these institutions and their close connection with 
the afiiiirs of the community, that " to dispense with banks, altogether, is 
an idea ivhich seems to have no advocate ; to make ourselves dependent on 
those established by federal authority, deserves none.'''' He says that expe- 
rience is against banks owned wholly by the Stale, and that to make 
stockholders liable, in their private capacity, throws the stock into the 
hands of irresponsible persons ; he reprobates the practice of " bonusses" 
for bank charters, and says that, compared with the community, the stock- 
holders are few, and hence that all legislative measures should refer ex- 
clusively to the safety and stability of the institutions. He finally con- 
cludes that the present, solvent banks cannot be so suddenly closed, with- 
out a violent disturbance of the interests of the public ; and alludes to 
" a sensible and apparently well-considered plan'' which had been sub- 
mitted to him, and which proposed " to make all the banks responsible 
for any loss the public may sustain by the failure of any one or more of 
them." He then presents a brief epitome of the " safety fund system," 
and concludes this part of his message with the remark, that " the interest 
which attaches itself to the representative character can never be greater^ 
than when the fulfilment of the trust committed to the representative, 
may bring him in conflict with the claims of the great monied interests 
of the country." 

On the 20th of January, 1829, Mr. Van Buren, in a brief message, in- 
troduced the safety fund to the favorable notice of the Legislature. This 
plan originated with the Hon. Joshua Forman, and was by him submit- 
ted to the Governor. By his suggestions it was somewhat modified, and 
as amended it was finally adopted by the Legislature. Thus, though his 
gubernatorial career was brief, it was signalized by the adoption of a sys- 
tem which combined the monied interests of the empire State in an indis- 
soluble league of mutual dependence. The system was a showy system, 
and by Mr. Van Buren's agency was afterwards introduced into the na- 
tional policy. In both instances it has proved a stupendous failure. 

On the 12th of March, 1829, Mr. Van Buren resigned the office of 
Governor, in consequence of his appointment as Secretary of State of the 
United States. He had thus reached an important point in the career of 
his ambition. His eye immediately rested on the presidency as a prize 
within his grasp, Mr. Calhoun, however, the Vice-President, was at that 
time a formidable rival. It was necessary to supplant him in his hold up- 
oji General Jackson. Through the agency of Mr. James A. Hamilton, 
a verbal statement had been obtained from Mr. Crawford, that at a meet- 
ing of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, to discuss the course to be pursued towards 
Spain, in consequence of General Jackson's proceedings in Florida during 
the Seminole war, Mr. Calhoun, then secretary of the war department, 
had urged upon the President the necessity of arresting and trying Gene- 
ral Jackson. This information had been acquired in 1827-28. In the 
winter of 1829-30, it was employed by Mr. Van Buren's friends to bring 



VANBUREN. 339 

about a rupture between Mr. Calhoun and GeneralJackson. The scheme 
was successful. In February, 1831, the correspondence that had passed 
on the subject was published by Mr. Calhoun, in consequence of a partial 
communication of the affair to the public. On the 25th of that month, 
Mr. Van Buren published a card, averring " that every assertion or insin- 
uation which has for its object to impute to him any participation in at- 
tempts supposed to have been made, in the years 1S27 and 1828, to preju- 
dice the Vice-President in the good opinion of General Jackson, or at any 
time, is alike unfounded and unjust. He had no motive or desire to create 
such an impression, and neither took, advised, nor countenanced, directly 
or indirectly, any steps to effect that object." Mr. Van Buren is entitled 
to the benefit of this statement. He has always been fortunate in compass- 
ing his ends through the convenient instrumentality of others. 

Soon after the rupture with Mr. Calhoun, the public mind was disturbed 
by the explosion of the cabinet. This body was composed of one Van 
Buren man, one Calhoun man, and four Jackson men. Mr. Van Buren, 
in April, 1831, addressed a letter to the President, declaring that he felt it 
to be a duty to retire from the office to which his confidence and partiality 
had called him. The reasons assigned were that his name had been men- 
tioned as a candidate for the presidency ; that as opinions were abroad 
unfavorable to the order of succession by the office of Secretary of State, 
he was not disposed to disfranchise himself by continuing in office ; that 
difTerent views as to the succession were unavoidable among the friends 
of an administration ; and that where a member of the cabinet looked to 
the succession, an injurious effect must result to public affairs. To this he 
added, that as the President would be re-elected, and as he had been 
among the most urgent of his advisers to stand a second poll, he could not 
consent, by continuance in office, to embarrass the future measures of the 
administration. This step was followed by the immediate dissolution of 
the cabinet. The General declared that its members had come togethei 
as an unit, and he was determined to reconstruct it of entirely new mate- 
rials. 

General Jackson's confidence in Mr. Van Buren remained unimpaired, 
and in the summer of 1831 he was despatched as minister to St. James's, 
to succeed Mr. McLane. On the meeting of Congress in December, he 
was nominated to the Senate of the United States for their approbation. 
He was rejected by that body, in consequence of their disapproval of the 
instructions which he issued, while Secretary of State, to our minister in 
England, in reference to our West India trade. As this question is one 
of very considerable historical interest, we copy from the instructions in 
question the offensive passages : 

" If,'' says the secretary, " the omission of this Government to accept 
of the terms proposed, when, heretofore, offered, be urged as an objection 
to their adoption now, it will be your duty to make the British Govern- 
ment sensible of the injustice a7id hiexpediency of such a course. 

" The opportunities which you have derived from a participation in our 
councils, as well as other sources of information, will enable you to speak 
with confidence (as far as you may deem it proper and useful so to do) of 
the respective parts taken by those to whom the administration of this Gov- 



336 VAN BUREN. 

ernment is now cojmnitted, in relation to the course heretofore pursued up- 
on. the subject of the colonial trade. Their vieios of the point have been 
submitted to the people of the United States ; and the councils by xohich 
your condiLCt is now directed, are the result of the judgineiit expressed by 
the only earthly tribunal to ivhich the late administration ivas ameiiable for 
its acts. It should be sufficient, that the claims set up by them, and which 
caused the interruption of the trade in question, have been explicitly aban- 
doned by those loho first asserted them, and are not revived by their succes- 
sors.^ If Great Britain deems it adverse to her interests to allow us to 
participate in the trade with her colonies, and finds nothing in the exten- 
sion of it to others to induce her to apply the same rule to us, she will, 
we hope, be sensible of the propriety of placing her refusal on these 
grounds. To set up the acts of the late administratio7i, as the cause of 
forfeiture of privileges which would other ivhe be exte?ided to the people of 
the United States, would, under existing circumstances, be unjust in itself, 
and could not fail to excite their deepest sensibility. The tone of feeling, 
which a course so unwise and untenable is calculated to produce, would, 
doubtless, be greatly aggravated by the consciousness, that Great Britain 
has, by order in council, opened her colonial ports to Russia and France, 
notwithstanding a similar omission, on their part, to accept the terms 
offered by the act of July, 1825." 

" You cannot press this view of the subject too earnestly upon the con- 
sideration of the British ministry. It has bearings and relations that 
reach beyond the immediate question under discussion." 

In his letter to Mr. McLane of the fifth of October, 1830, he assured 
the minister, that the construction of Lord Aberdeen and himself, by which 
the reciprocity in the export of foreign goods required by our act of 1830 
was abandoned, " was adopted without reserve ;" and adds, " The Presi- 
dent has derived great satisfaction from the candor and liberality which 
has characterized his majesty's ministers throughout the negotiation, and 
particularly in not suffering the inadvertencies of our legislation, attrib- 
utable to the haste a7id confiisio7i of the closing scenes of the session, to de- 
feat or delay the adjustment." 

On tile character of these instructions we do not propose to comment. 
It was upon this point that his rejection by the Senate rested. His friends 
however condemned the rejection, and vindicated the propriety of Mr. Van 
Buren's course. The Republican members of the New York Legislature 
addressed a letter to the President, expressing in strong language their 
indignation at what they termed a " proscriptive act" of the Senate, and 
their high respect for the public and private character of Mr. Van Buren. 
The President in reply assumed the entire responsibility of the instruc- 
tions condemned by the Senate ; declaring that they were the result of his 
own deliberate investigation and reflection, and still appearing to him alto- 
gether proper, and consonant to his public duty. 

On the 22d of May, 1832, Mr. Van Buren was nominated as a candi- 
date for the vice-presidency, by a convention of the Jackson party holden 
at Baltimore. He received one hundred and eighty nine of two hundred 
and eighty-six electoral votes, and was a-ccordingly elected. On the fourth 
• This was a mistake. 



VAN BUREN. 337 

of March, 1S33, he was inaugurated as Vice-President. In this position 
of course he seldom obtained the opportunity of taking an active part in 
pubhc affairs. The most remarkable instance that occurred during his 
four years was in reference to the incendiary publication bill of Mr. Cal- 
houn. This bill contemplated the suppression of incendiary doctrine on 
the subject of slavery, through the agency of the postoffice. It was sus- 
tained by many Senators from the south and south-west. On its passage 
to a second reading there was a tie. The casting vote of the Vice-Presi- 
dent was called for, and was given in favor of the bill. At its next stage 
it was defeated by the votes of Senators from the slave-holding States. 

During his occupancy of the office, however, Mr. Van Buren was fre- 
quently called upon for his opinion on public aiTairs. To all such ques- 
tions lie replied without hesitation or reserve, declaring his hostility to the 
United States Bank, to a system of internal improvements ; and a com- 
plete acquiescence in all the views, feelings, and opinions of General 
Jackson. On the right of interference by the General Government, or 
the people of the non-slave-holding States, in the subject of slavery, he has 
expressed liimself in the very strongest language. The following letter, 
addressed to a gentleman of Augusta, Georgia, at a time when gi'eat ex- 
citement prevailed in the Southern Slates, in consequence of the proceed- 
ings of the anti-slavery association at the North, exhibits Mr. Van Buren's 
sentiments on this very interesting question : 

" OwAsco, Sept. 10. 1835. 

" My Dear Sir : Your letter of the 22d ult. met rae at this place, on 
my return from the Falls ; and I lose no time in replying to that part of it 
which relates to the continued attempts to prejudice my friends, as well as 
myself, in the estimation of the South in respect to the slave question. 

" It is deeply to be regretted that there should be found, on the part of 
any, inducements sufficiently strong to increase an excitement, already so 
alarming, by a resort to imputations, in the truth of which no ingenuous 
mind can place the slightest confidence. The allegations which attribute 
to me views and opinions that are so justly obnoxious to the slave-holding 
States, are made in the face of the most explicit declarations on my par^ 
denying all authority on the part of the Federal Government to interfere 
in the matter — against the propriety of agitating the question in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and in the absence of a single fact, giving the least 
countenance to the unfounded imputations. I should poorly requite the 
candor with which I have hitherto been treated by the great mass of my 
fellow-citizens at the South, were I to allow myself to apprehend that 
those who would otherwise be disposed to give me their confidence, could, 
under such circumstances, suffer me to be prejudiced in their opinion, by 
the unsupported assertions of my enemies, however reckless or vehemently 
persisted in. Were these fabrications, therefore, designed to afl^ect me 
only, I should not hesitate to leave the matter as it stands, to the sponta- 
neous action of my countrymen. But when it is intended to reach, in 
this way, those who honor me with their friendship, I do not feel myself 
at liberty to withhold any correction that may, by possibility, be useful to 
them. With this view I send you the enclosed proceedings of the citizens 
of Albany upon the subject, and authorize you to say, that I concur fully 
43 



338 VAN BUREN. 

in the sentiments they advance. I was absent from the city at the time 
the meeting was held, but took an early occasion to advise its call, and to 
encourage the attempt to make it, what it has been, a meeting of the peo- 
ple, without reference to their sentiments on any other subject than that 
which was discussed before it. Connected with its proceedings are to be 
found the names of our principal State officers, executive and judicial, in- 
cluding the Governor of our State, with an array of private citizens which, 
for personal worth and weight of character, has never, to my knowledge, 
been excelled at any previous meeting. 

" It would be presumption in me to add any assurances of my own, as to 
the sincerity with which the sentiments they express are entertained, or 
of their disposition to make them efiectual upon the important subject to 
which they relate. 

" May we not, then, hope that the proofs of an affectionate and just spirit 
towards the rights and interests of the South, which have been brought 
out by this hitherto threatening excitement, will have the effect, in future, 
to remove all unfounded impressions, and to put an end to every feeling 
and prejudice inconsistent with the principles upon which the Union was 
'bunded ? 

" Earnestly cherishing this pleasing anticipation, 

" I am, dear sir, very truly, your friend and ob't serv't, 

M. VAN BUREN." 

The leading resolutions adopted by the meeting alluded to in the above 
letter are as follows : 

" Therefore, Resolved, That we regard the Constitution of the United 
States as carrj'ing with it an adjustment of all questions involved in the 
deliberations which led to its adoption : and that the compromise of inte- 
rests in which it was founded, is, in our opinion, binding in honor and 
good faith, independently of the force of agreement, on all who live under 
its protection, and participate in the benefits of which it is the source. 

" Resolved, That under the Constitution of the United States, the rela- 
tion of master and slave is a matter belonging exclusively to the people 
of each State within its own boundary ; that the General Government has 
no control over it ; that it is subject only to the respective arrangements 
of the several States within which it exists ; and that any attempt by the 
government or people of any other State, or by the General Government, 
to interfere with or disturb it, would violate the spirit of that compromise 
which lies at the basis of the federal compact." 

On the 20th of ]\Iay, 1S35, the Jackson convention for the nomination 
of a candidate for the presidency was holden at Baltimore. About six 
hundred delegates were in attendance. On the first ballot, Mr. Van Buren 
received the unanimous vote of the convention for the candidacy ; 
and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was subsequenth^ nominated for 
the office of Vice-President. These nominations, it was well understood, 
received the express approbation of General Jackson. So ardent, indeed, 
was his approval, that, to carry out the principles of his administration in 
a successor on whom he could place the most implicit reliance, he openly 
and warmly advocated Mr. Van Buren's election. To the letter of the 



VAN BUREN. 339 

nominating committee, Mr. Van Buren replied at some length. We ex- 
tract the most pregnant and important paragraph : 

" I content myself, on this occasion, with saying, that I consider myself 
the honored instrument, selected by the friends of the present administra- 
tion, to carry out Jts principles and policy ; and that, as well from inclina- 
tion as from duty, I shall, if honored with the choice of the American 
people, endeavor to tread generally in the footsteps of President Jackson — 
happy, if I shall be able to perfect the work which he has so gloriously 
begun." 

We have alluded to the calls that had been made at various periods upon 
Mr. Van Buren for his opinions on important political subjects. His let- 
ters in reply have been frequently reprinted. One of the most remarkable 
of these was his letter to Sherrod Williams, an opposition member of 
Congress, Avho desired an exposition of his views on several agitating 
topics. Mr. Van Buren replied with his usual prudence and adroitness, 
expressing a perfect coincidence on all points with the opinions of General 
Jackson. This document, is too long to copy entire, but it has been so 
frequently published in our public journals as to be accessible to all our 
readers. 

On canvassing the returns of electoral votes for President, it was ascer- 
tained that Martin Van Buren had received 167, Daniel Webster 14, 
General William H. Harrison 93, Hugh L. White 26, and Willie P. 
Mangum 11 votes. The vote of Michigan, if counted, would make Mr. 
Van Buren's elective number 170. A careful canvass of the primary 
votes shows that a small majority of the people cast their votes for the 
opposition tickets ; but the fortunate location of his forces gave Mr. Van 
Buren a handsome triumph in the electoral colleges. There was no 
choice of Vice-President by the people. The two highest candidates that 
went before the Senate were Colonel Johnson of Kentucky, and Francis 
Granger of New York. Forty-nine Senators were present at the time of 
balloting; 16 ballots were thrown for Mr. Granger, and 33 for Colonel 
Johnson, who was accordingly declared to be elected. 

Mr. Van Buren was inaugurated on Saturday, the fourth of March. 
Before proceeding to take the oath of office, the President elect delivered 
the following address : 

Fellow-Citizens : 

The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfil, to 
accompany the first and solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that 
will guide me in performing it, and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so 
responsible and vast. In imitating their example I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men, 
whose superiors, it is our happiness to believe, are not found on the executive calendar of 
any country. Among them we recognise the earliest and firmest pillars of the Republic ; 
those by whom our national independence was first declared ; him who, above all others, 
contributed to establish it on the field of battle ; and those whose expanded intellect and 

fiatriotism constructed, improved, and perfected the inestimable institutions under which we 
ive. If such men, in the position I now occupy, felt themselves overwhelmed by a sense 
of gratitude for this, the highest of all marks of their country's confidence, and by a con- 
sciousness of their inability adequately to discharge the duties of an office so difficult and 
exalted, how much more must these considerations affect one who can rely on no such claims 
for favor or forbearance. Unlike all who have preceded me, the Revolution, that gave us 
existence as one people, was achieved at the period of my birth; and, whilst I contemplate 
with grateful reverence thct memorable event, I feel that I belong to a later age, and tnat I 
may not expect my countrymen to weigh my actions with the same kind aad partial hand. 



•MO VAIi BUREN. 

So sensibly, fellow-citizens, do these circumstances press themselves upon me, that 1 
should not dare to enter upon my path of duty, did I not look for the generotis aid of those 
who will be associaiid with me in the various and co-ordinate branches of the Government; 
did I not repose, witli unwavering reliance, on the patriotism, the intelligence, and the kind- 
ness of a people who never yet deserted a public servant honestly laboring in their cause; 
and, above all, did I not permit myself humbly to hope for the sustaining support of an ever- 
watchful and beneficent Providence. 

To the confidence and consolation derived from these sources, it would be ungrateful not 
to add those which spring from i ur present fortunate condition. Though not altogether 
exempt from embarrassments thai disturb our tranquillity at home and threaten it abroad, 
yet, in all the attributes of a great, happy, and flourishing people, we stand without a parallel 
in the world. Abroad, we enjoy the respect, and, with scarcely an exception, the friendship 
of every nation. At home, while our Government quietly, but efficiently, performs the sole 
legitimate end of political institutions, in doing the greatest good to tiie greatest number, 
we present an aggregate of human prosperity surely not elsewhere to be found. 

How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of 
action, whether limited or extendeti, to exert himself in perpetuating a condition of things 
so singularly happy. All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us, if we 
are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess. Position and 
clunatc, and the bounteous resources that Nature has scattered with so liberal a hand, even 
the difliised intelligence and elevated character of our people, will avail us nothing, if we 
iail sacredly to upliold those political institutions that were wisely and deliberately formed 
with reference to every circumstance that could preserve, or might endanger, the blessings 
we enjoy. The thoughtful framers of our Constitution legislated for our country as they 
found it. Looking upon it with the eyes of statesmen and of patriots, they saw all the 
sources of rapid and wonderful prosperity ; but they saw also that various habits, opinions, 
and inslitutiuns, peculiar to the various portions of so vast a region, were deeply fixed. 
Distinct sovereignties were in actual existence, whose cordial union was essential to the 
welfare and happiness of all. Between many of them there was, at least to some extent, a 
real diversity of interests, liable to be exaggerated through sinister designs ; they diflered 
in size, in population, in wealth, and in actual and prospective resources and power ; they 
varied in the character of their industry and staple productions ; and in some existed do- 
mestic institutions which, unwisely disturbed, might endanger the harmony of tiie whole. 
Most carefully were all these circumstances weighed, and the foundations of the new Gov- 
ernment laid upon principles of reciprocal concession and equitable compromise. The 
jealousies which the smaller States might entertam of the power of the rest were allayed 
by a rule of representation, confessedly unequal at the time, and designed forever to remain 
so. A natural fear that the broad scope of general legislation miglit bear upon, and un- 
wisely control, particular interests, was counteracted by limits strictly drawn around the 
action of the federal authority ; and to the people and ine States was left unimpaired their 
sovereign power over the innumerable subjects embraced in the internal government of a 
just Republic, excepting such only as necessarily appertain to the concerns of the whole 
confederacy, or its intercourse, as a united community, with the other nations of the world. 

This provident forecast has been verified by time. Haifa century, teeming with extra- 
ordinary events, and elsewhere producing astonishing results, has passed along ; but on our 
institutions it has left no injurious mark. From a small community we have risen to a 
people powerful in numbers and in strength ; but with our increase has gone, hand in hand, 
the progress of just principles ; the privileges, civil and religious, of the humblest individual 
are still sacredly protected at home ; and, while the valor and fortitude of our people have 
removed far from us the slightest apprehension of foreign power, they have not yet induced 
us, in a single instance, to forget wliat is right. Our commerce has been extended to the 
remotest nations ; the value, and even nature, of our productions has been greatly changed ; 
a wide difibrence has arisen in the relative wealth and resources of every portion of our 
country ; yet the spirit of mutual regard and of faithful adherence to existing compacts has 
continued to prevail in our councils, and never long been absent from our conduct. We 
have learned by experience a fruitful lesson : that an implicit and undeviating adherence to 
the principles on which we set out can carry us prosperously onward, through all the con- 
flicts of circumstances and the vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years. 

The success that has thus attended our great experiment is, in itself, a sufficient cause for 
gratitude, on account of the happiness it has actually conferred, and the example it has un- 
answerably given. But to me, my fellow-citizens, looking forward to the far-distant future, 
with ardent prayers and confiding hopes, this retrospect jiresents a groiuid for still deeper 
delight. It impresses on my mind a hrm belief that the perpetuity of our institutions de- 
pends upon ourselves ; that, if we maintain the principles on which they were established, 
they are destined to confer their benefits on countless generations yet to come ; and that 
America will present to every friend of mankind the cheering proof that a popular Govern- 
ment, wisely formed, is wanting in no element of endurance or strength. Fifty years ago, 
its rapid failure was boldly predicted. Latent and uncontrollable causes of dissolution were 



VAN BUREN. 341 

flupposed to exist, even by the wise and good ; and not only did unfriendly or speculative 
theorists anticipate for us the fate of past republics, but the fears of many an honest patriot 
overbalanced his sanguine hopes. Look back on these forebodings, not hastily, but reluc- 
tantly made, and see how, in every instance, they have completely failed. 

An imperfect ex))erience, during the struggles of the Revolution, was supposed to war- 
rant the belief that the people would not bear the taxation requisite to discharge an immense 
public debt already incurred, and to defray the necessary expenses of the Government. 
The cost of two wars has been paid, not only without a murmur, but with unequalled alac- 
rity. No one is now left to doubt that every burden will be cheerfully borne that may be 
necessary to sustain our civil institutions, or guard our honor or our welfare. Indeed, all 
experience has shown that the willingness of the people to contribute to these ends, in cases 
of emergency, has uniformly outrun the confidence of their representatives. 

In the early stages of the new Government, when all felt the imposing ijifluence as they 
recognised the unequalled services of the first President, it was a common sentiment, that 
the great weight of his character could alone bind the discordant materials of our Govern- 
ment together, and save us from the violence of contending factions. Since his death nearly 
forty years are gone. Party exasperation has been often carried to its highest point ; the 
virtue and the fortitude of the people have sometimes been greatly tried; yet our system, 
purified and enhanced in value t)y all it has encountered, still preserves its spirit of free and 
fearless discussion, blended with unimpaired fraternal feeling. 

The capacity of the people for self-government, and their willingness, from a high sense 
of duty, and without those exhibitions of coercive power so generally employed in other 
countries, to submit to all needful restraints and exactions of tne municipal law, have also 
been favorably exemplified in the history of the American States. Occasionally, it is true, 
the ardor of public sentiment, outrunning the regular progress of the judicial tribunals, or 
seeking to reach cases not denounced as criminal by the existing law, has displayed itself in 
a manner calculated to give pain to the friends of free government, and to encourage the 
hopes of those who wish for its overthrow. These occurrences, however, have been far less 
frequent in our country than in any other of equal population on the globe ; and with the 
diffusion of intelligence, it may well be hoped that they will constantly diminish in fre- 
quency and violence. The generous patriotism and sound common sense of the great mass 
of our fellow-citizens will assuredly, in time, produce this result ; for as every assumption 
of illegal power not only wounds the majesty of the law, but furnishes a pretext lor abridg- 
ing the liberties of the people, the latter have the most direct and ijermanent interest in 
preserving the landmarks of social order, and maintaining, on all occasions, the inviolability 
of those constitutional and legal provisions which they themselves have made. 

In a supposed unfitness of our institutions for those hostile emergencies which no country 
can always avoid, their friends found a fruitful source of apprehension, their enemies of hope. 
While they foresaw less promptness of action than in Governments differently formed, they 
overlooked the far more important consideration, that, with us, war could never be the result 
of individual or irresponsible will, but must be a measure of redress lor injuries sustained, 
voluntarily resorted to by those who were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who would conse- 
quently feel an individual interest in the contest, and whose eiiergy would be commensurate 
with the difficulties to be encountered. Actual events have proved their error ; the last war, 
far from impairing, gave new confidence to our Government ; and amid recent ajiprchensions 
of a similar conflict, we saw that the energies of our country would not be wanting in ample 
season to vindicate its rights. We may not possess, as we should not desire to possess, the 
extended and ever-ready military organization of other nations ; we may occasionally suffer 
in the outset for the want of it; but, among ourselves, all doubt upon this great point has 
ceased, while a salutary experience will prevent a contrary opinion from inviting aggression 
from abroad. 

Certain danger was foretold from the extension of our territory, the multiplication of States, 
and the increase of population. Our system was supposed to be adapted only to boundaries 
comparatively narrow. These have been widenc^ beyond conjecture ; the members of our 
confederacy are already doubled; and the numbers of our people are incredibly augmented. 
The alleged causes of danger have long surpassed anticipation, but none of the consequences 
have followed. The power and influence of the Republic have risen to a height obvious to 
all mankind ; respect for its authority was not more apparent at its ancient tnan it is at its 
present limits ; new and inexhaustible sources of general prosperity have been opened ; the 
effects of distance have been averted by the inventive genius of our people, developed and 
fostered by the spirit of our institutions, and the enlarged variety and amount of interests, 
productions, and pursuits have strengthened the chain of mutual dependence, and formed a 
circle of mutual benefits too apparent ever to be overlooked. 

In justly balancing the powers of the Federal and State authorities, difficulties nearly in- 
surmountable arose at the outset, and subsequent collisions were deemed inevitable. Amid 
these, it was scarcely believed possible that a scheme of government, so complex in con- 
struction, could remain uninjured. From time to time emliarrassments have certainly oc- 
curred ; but how just is the confidence of future safety imparted by the knowledge that each 



342 VAN BUREN. 

in succession has been happily removed. • Overlooking partial and temporary evils, as in- 
separable from the practical operation of all human institutions, and looking only to the 
general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied. While the Federal Government has 
successfully performed its appropriate functions in relation to foreign alfairs and concerns 
evidently national, that of every State has remarkably improved in protecting and develop- 
ing h)cal interests and individual welfare ; and if the vibrations of authority have occasion- 
ally tended too much towards one or the other, it is unquestionably certain that the ultimate 
operation of the entire system has been to strengthen all the existing institutions, and to 
elevate our whole country in prosperity and renown. 

The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster supposed 
to lurk in our political condition, was the institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers 
were deeply impressed with the delicacy of this subject, and they treated it with a forbear- 
ance so evidantly wise, that, in spite of every sinister foreboding, it never, until the present 
period, disturbed the tranquillity of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence 
of the justice and the patriotism of their course ; it is evidence not to be mistaken, that an 
adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from this, as well as from every other antici- 
pated cause of difficulty or danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest 
reflection, that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to every inte- 
rest, that of humanity included? Amidst the violence of excited passions, this generous 
and fraternal feeling has been sometimes disregarded ; and, standing as I now do before my 
countrymen in this high place of honor and of trust, 1 cannot refrain f'rom anxiously invoking 
rny fellow-citizens never to be deaf to its dictates. Perceiving, before my election, the deep 
interest this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make 
known my sentiments in regard to it ; and now, when every motive for misrepresentation 
has passed away, I trust that they will be candidly weighed and understood. At least, they 
will be my standard of conduct in the path before me. I then declared that, if the desire 
of those of my countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified, " I must go 
into the presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt, 
on the part of Congress, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, against the wishes 
of the slave-holding States ; and also with a determination equally decided to resist the 
slightest interference with it in the States where it exists." 1 submitted also to my fellow- 
citizens, with fulness and frankness, the reasons which led me to this determination. The 
result authorizes me to believe that they have been approved, and are confided in, by a 
majority of the people of the United States, including those whom they most immediately 
affect. It now only remains to add, that no bill conflicting with these views can ever receive 
my constitutional sanction. These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief that they 
are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the Republic, and 
that succeeding experience has proved them to be humane, patriotic, expedient, honorable, 
and just. If the agitation of this subject was intended to reach the stability of our institu- 
tions, enough has occurred to show that it has signally failed ; and that in this, as in every 
other instance, the apprehensions of the timid and the hopes of the wicked for the destruc- 
tion of our Government, are again dcstuied to be disappointed. Here and there, indeed, 
scenes of dangerous excitement have occurred ; terrifymg instances of local violence have 
been witnessed ; and a reckless disregard of the consequences of their conduct has exposed 
individuals to popular indignation ; but neither masses of the people, nor sections of the 
country, have been swerved from their devotion to the bond of union, and the principles it 
has made sacred. It will be. ever thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may period- 
ically return, but with each the object will be better understood. That predominating affec- 
tion for our political system which prevails throughout our territorial limits ; that calm and 
enlightened judgment which ultimately governs our people as one vast body; will always 
be at hand to resist and control every effort, foreign or domestic, which aims, or would lead, 
to overthrow our institutions. 

What can be more gratifying than such a retrospect as this ? We look back on obstacles 
avoided, and dangers overcome; on expectations more than realized, and prosperity per- 
fectly secured. To the hopes of the hostile, the fears of the timid, and the doubts of the 
anxious, actual experience has given the conclusive reply. We have seen time gradually 
dispel every unfavorable foreboding, and our Constitution surmount every adverse circum- 
stance, dreaded at the outset as beyond control. Present excitement will, at all times, mag- 
nify present dangers ; but true philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than 
the past can remain to be overcome ; and we ought, for we have just reason, to entertain an 
abiding confidence in the stability of our institutions, and an entire conviction that, if ad- 
ministered in the true form, character, and spirit in which they were established, they are 
abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children the rich blessings already derived 
from them; to make our beloved land, for a thousand generations, that chosen spot where 
happiness springs from a perfect equality of political rignts. 

For myself, therefore, I desire to declare, that the principle that will govern me in the 
high duty to which my country calls me, is a strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the 
Constitution, as it was designed by those who framed it. Looking back to it as a sacred 



VAN BUREN. 343 

instrument carefully and not easily framed ; rememberingr that it was throughout a work of 
concession and comproniise ; viewing it as limited to national objects; regarding it as 
leaving to the people and the States all power not'explicitly parted with ; I sniill endeavor 
to preserve, protect, and defend it, by anxiously referring to its provision for direction in 
every action. To matters of domestic concernment which it has intrusted to the Federal 
Government, and to such as relate to our intercourse with foreign nations, I shall zealously 
devote myself; beyond those limits I shall never pass. 

To enter, on this occasion, into a further or more minute exposition of my views on the 
various questions of domestic policy, would be as obtrusive as it is probably unexpected. 
Before the suffrages of my countrymen were conferred upon me, I submitted to them, with 
great precision, my opinions on all the most prominent of these subjects. Those opinions I 
shall endeavor to carry out with my utmost ability. 

Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible, as to constitute a rule 
of executive conduct which leaves little to my discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to 
run counter to the lights of experience, and the known opinions of my constituents. We 
sedulously cultivate the friendship of all nations, as the condition most compatible with our 
welfare and the principles of our Government. We decline alliances, as adverse to our 
peace. We desire commercial relations on equal terms, being ever willing to give a fair 
equivalent for advantages received. We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness 
and sincerity ; promptly avowing our objects, and seeking to establish that mutual frankness 
which is as beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. We have no disposition, and 
we disclaim all right, to meddle in disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest 
other countries; regarding them, in their actual state, as social communities, and preserving 
a strict neutrality in all their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of our people, 
and our exhaustless resources, we neither anticipate nor fear any designed aggression ; and, 
in the consciousness of our own just conduct, we feel a security that we shall never be called 
upon to exert our determination, never to permit an invasion of our rights without punish- 
ment or redress. 

In approaching, then, in the presence of my assembled countrymen, to make the solemn 
promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself that I will faithfully execute the office I am 
about to fill, I bring with me a settled purpose to maintain the institutions of my country, 
which, I trust, will atone for the errors I commit. 

In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, 
and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I cannot expect to per- 
form the arduous task with equal ability and success. But, united as I have been in his 
counsels, a daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed devotion to his country's welfare, 
agreeing with him in sentiments which his countrymen have warmly supported, and per- 
mitted to partake largely of his confidence, I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering 
approbation will be found to attend upon my path. For him, I but express, with my own, 
the wishes of all — that he may yet long live to enjoy the brilliant evening of his well-spent 
life ; and, for myself, conscious of but one desire, faithfully to serve my country, I throw 
myself, without fear, on its justice and its kindness. Beyond that, I only look to the gra- 
cious protection of the Divine Being, whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and 
whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of 
His providence to bless our beloved country with honors and with length of days ; may her 
ways be ways of pleasantness, and all her paths be peace. 

The delivery of the address being completed, and the oath prescribed by 
the Constitution having been administered to the President by the Chief 
Justice of the United States, national salutes from the military and naval 
stations within the city were fired in honor of the occasion ; after which, 
the President and Ex-President returned to the executive mansion, at- 
tended by the cortege which accompanied them to the capitol, and whither 
an immense concourse of citizens repaired to offer their salutations to the 
new President, and take leave of his predecessor. The representatives of 
foreign Governments also attended, and through Mr. Calderon, the minis- 
ter of her Catholic majesty, offered their congratulations to the President 
m an appropriate and impressive address. 

The day was uncommonly brilliant for the season, and the fineness of 
the weather permitted great numbers of citizens to come in from the coun- 
try, who, with the multitude of strangers who had been flocking into the 
city for many days frona a distance, and the thousands of resident citizens, 



344 VAN BUREN. 

lined the avenue, curing the forenoon, and formed a larger concourse of 
both sexes at the capitol during the ceremonies than was ever witnessed 
on any former occasion. Thronged, however, as the streets and public 
places Avere during the day, not an instance of disorder took place ; every 
thing wore a marked appearance of calmness, and the absence of excite- 
ment. 

In the evening there was a splendid ball at Carusi's, at which the Pres- 
ident and Vice-President of the United States attended, with a number 
of Senators and Representatives, all the heads of departments, many mil- 
itary and naval officers, all the members of foreign legations, in the official 
costume of their several functions and countries. 

Mr. Van Buren succeeded to the arduous post of the chief-magistracy 
at a period of almost unexampled prosperity. He found the treasury full 
to repletion ; the credit of the federal government and its finances in the 
most flourishing condition ; and the states, and commercial cities of the 
Union, going on in a career of enterprise and improvement scarcely par- 
alleled. So striking appeared this view of things to General Jackson, on 
retiring from office, that, in his address to the country, he congratulated 
the nation that he left this great people prosperous and happy. The meas- 
ures of the prior administration having determined the line of policy to be 
pursued by the party in power, Mr. Van Buren had the responsibility of 
no new acts with which to signalize or endanger the success of his admin- 
istration. Apparently he had a smooth sea before him. 

A few months changed this apparent prosperity into a wide-spread and 
universal gloom. The credit system, of such vital importance, under a 
healthy control, to the welfare of the country, had been expanded in an- 
ticipation of, and immediately following, the expiration of the charter of 
the United States Bank, to an extent beyond the power of the resources of 
the country to sustain. The business of the treasury had been transferred 
from the agency of the National Bank to the banks of the States, and 
transacted by them, at first, under the general authoiity of the act estab- 
lishing the Treasury Department, and afterwards according to the more 
specific provisions of the act of Congress, passed the 23d June, 1836, to 
regulate the deposites of the public money. 

Under the system thus organized, the public revenue on hand was de- 
posited in selected banks, to be discounted on by them, with various reg- 
ulations of security ; the public funds were transferred by their agency ; 
iheir notes were received and paid out in the dealings of the Treasury ; 
and they were relied on to conduct the exchanges of the country, and 
furnish its paper currency. 

At this period, (1836,) the number of banks chartered by the several 
States had greatly increased, many being created for the alleged purpose 
of supplying the anticipated vacuum in business by reason of the refusal 
of a new charter to the United States Bank ; the total number of banks in 
operation in the United States being six hundred and seventy-six, with a 
capital of upwards of three hundred and twenty-four millions of dollars. 
This amount of capital was greatly beyond the true wants of the country ; 
much of it was fictitious ; the business was altogether overdone ; excessive 
bank issues and overtrading followed hand in hand ; and at length, (in 



VAN BUREN. . 345 

1837,) the whole machinery fell into pieces, and a general suspension of 
cash payments by all the banks in the United States occurred. 

Thereupon, the President, (Mr. Van Buren,) considering the incorpora- 
tion of a national bank unconstitutional, and if constitutional, yet unwise, 
and deeming the continued use of the State banks either impracticable or 
inexpedient, recommended a radical change in the fiscal operations of the 
Federal Government, which (with some modifications of the original plan) 
became the law of the land on the 4th of July, 1840, by the passage of 
the act to provide for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disburse- 
ment of the public money. 

The principle of this plan was the ultimate total separation of the Fed- 
eral Government from all dependence on banks and bank paper in the 
business of the Treasury. The Treasurer of the United States, and va- 
rious officers of the Government under him, were required to keep the 
public moneys in the vaults of the Government, and perform all the duties 
of transfer as well as deposite, and provision was made for exacting imme- 
diately one-fourth of all public dues to be paid in gold and silver, and for 
the addition of one-fourth to that requisition yearly ; so that, on and after 
the expiration of three years, all payments to the Government should be 
made in gold and silver only, as the sole and exclusive legal currency of 
the United States. 

The system was immediately put in operation, and the Receivers Gen- 
eral appointed for the different sections of the Union were placed in charge 
of the accruing public revenues. Able and responsible agents were se- 
lected, and the measure, which was at the outset objected to by many of 
the friends of the President, now became the favorite object of the party 
at the head of affairs. They had become hostile, as a political party, tc 
all banks ; and the mass of the whole people were daily becoming more 
and more dissatisfied with the conduct of these institutions. As a remedy 
for the existing evils, slow, perhaps, but ultimately secure, Mr. Van Buren 
looked forward with confidence to the success of the Independent Treasury 
system, because of its entire independence of all agency not the Govern- 
ment's, and especially because independent of banks ; because it would hold 
the public funds for public use only ; and because, by the use of coin 
alone in the dealings of the Treasury, it would tend in the result to bring 
back the business of the country from the delusive excesses and expansions 
of the paper system, to the money standard of the Constitution. 

The Independent, or Sub-Treasury system, was the great measure of 
Mr. Van Buren's administration, which, had he been re-elected, would 
have been carried out to its consummation, either of good or evil. Its 
adoption was carried during a highly exasperated political contest through- 
out the country, and it formed one of the rallying points of both the great 
contending parties ; and the general distrust with which it was viewed by 
the people, contributed not a little to the signal overthrow which soon after 
visited the administration of Mr. Van Buren. 

President Van Buren was nominated for re-election in May, 1840. by a 
very numerous and intelligent convention of delegates from the different 
States, assembled at Baltimore. From the address of that convention to 
the people, drawn up by Ex-Governor Hill, of New-Hampshire, the fol 

44 



346 VAN BUREN. 

lowing extracts are taken, as embodying the argument in favor of Mr. Van 
Buren, on the other branches of his administrative policy, in the language 
of one of his admirers : 

" Notwithstanding the eminent skill with which our foreign affairs were 
managed by General Jackson throughout his administration, great embar- 
rassments remained to be encountered by his successor. Having succeeded 
in obtaining indemnity from European powers for the long arrearages of 
injuries we had suffered during tlie sanguinary conflicts that succeeded the 
American Revolution, he turned, towards the close of his second term, his 
attention to the just demands of our citizens against the Republics of this 
continent. Beginning with Mexico, he pressed upon her, with his wonted 
energy and firmness, the prompt arrangement of our claims, daily increas- 
ing in numbers, and some of them having their origin in those first and 
early movements in the Spanish American States, which resulted in their 
complete emancipation and independence. Although partially supported 
by Congress, they did not see fit to sustain him in the recommendation 
made, at a critical moment, to enforce, by competent means, an immediate 
adjustment upon the dilatory rulers who governed Mexico in rapid succes- 
sion. The discussions between the two countries became more recrimina- 
tory and acrimonious ; and at last, at the moment of his departure from the 
head of the Government, the recognition of the independence of Texas, 
added to the previous interruption of diplomatic intercourse, had produced 
a feeling on the part of the Government and people of Mexico so embitter- 
ed, as seemingly to render hostilities almost inevitable. In the midst of 
these difficulties, attended, as they were, by the wide-spread domestic em- 
barrassments which a disordered currency had produced, the disturbances 
in Canada occurred, to awaken the attention of our people, and try the 
firmness of the Executive. A civil war raged in a neighboring country ; 
the population on each side of the boundary was dangerously excited ; 
angry collisions, constantly anticipated, and more dian once occurring, 
were readily imputed to a want of good faith, or settled purposes of hos- 
tility ; and a rare union of prudence and firmness, forbearance and reso- 
lution, was required to prevent those consequences which, in every aspect, 
threatened a fierce and prolonged war. While yet this storm of passions 
on the Northern frontier remained unsubdued, the occurrences on the boun- 
dary of Maine suddenly arose, and seemed to render the policy of the 
administration still more difficult, and to destroy every hope of preserving 
unbroken tranquillity. Let the history of the dangers thus springing up 
from the moment Mr. Van Buren entered upon the Executive office — the 
measures which, for three years, he has adopted in regard to them — the 
able correspondence in which he has maintained, with unflinching firm- 
ness, the rights and honor of the United States — let these speak the merit 
of his administration of our foreign affairs. The wearied patience o( the 
honest claimants against Mexico is at length rewarded, by the appointment 
of a just tribunal for the settlement of their claims, and a stipulated mode 
of paying them. The Canadian boi'der is once more the scene of active 
and peaceful industry ; passion has been subdued by reason and reflection ; 
and every thing assures us, that however strong our sympathies may be 
with the progress of social and political improvement, they will not be in- 



VAN BUREN. 847 

dulged at the expense of international rights. Maine, whose long-suffering 
patience properly demanded the prompt decision of the pending question, 
reposes with confidence in the General Administration to obtain that end, 
and feels satisfied that it will sustain, with unchanging resolution, her ter- 
ritorial claims. 

" Nor let us forget that while these great and absorbing questions of for- 
eign policy were depending, all the other duties connected with our foreign 
intercourse were successfully performed. Indemnities have been obtained 
by Mr. Van Buren from Mexico, Texas, Great Britain, and Holland ; ad- 
vantageous commercial treaties have been completed with the Peru-Boliv- 
ian Confederation, and with Holland, Greece, and Sardinia ; and have been 
agreed upon with Ecuador and Belgium ; and our national character, and 
the principles of maritime law, which we have always maintained, have 
been recognized and respected in the most distant quarters of the globe." 

Such is the estimate placed upon the public merits and policy of Mr. 
Van Buren, by the great political party which sustained him. It is not 
our purpose to examine or controvert the accuracy of the estimate, or the 
wisdom of his policy. Those are matters left to the judgment of the can- 
did reader, and for the sentence of posterity. A few extracts from a public 
letter of Mr. Van Buren, written in July, 1840, in answer to inquiries 
from the citizens of Elizabeth-City county, in Virginia, are added, as giv- 
ing a clear definition of the views entertained by him, on some of the great 
questions which have hitherto, and still continue to interest his countrymen. 

Mr. Van Buren says — " The authority of the elector to call in good 
faith on the candidate for his favor, for an unreserved avowal of his opin- 
ions in regard to all matters of public concern that it may become his 
official duty to act upon, is not only of inestimable value to the success of 
political institutions like ours, but may, I think, without exaggeration, be 
regarded as indispensable to the maintenance of Republican Government. 
Viewing the subject in this light, and having satisfied myself that in pro- 
pounding questions to me, you have, as you assure me, been actuated by 
an unfeigned desire to be able to bestow your suffrages understandingly, 
and to possess yourself of information which you deem material to that 
end, I cheerfully comply with your request. 

You ask me, first, ' whether, if elected President, I will veto any bill 
having for its object the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia : 
or whether I will sanction any bill granting appropriations of the public 
money to any State, soliciting aid for the emancipation of their slaves V 
My attention has been frequently heretofore called to the first branch of 
your inquiry ; and my views in respect to it given. The substance of 
them was repeated, with additional explanations, in a letter recently ad- 
dressed by me to a committee comiposed of citizens of Louisville, Kentucky, 
in reply to a question embracing, among other things, the particular point 
now referred to. As my reply to your several questions will, unavoida- 
bly, be of considerable length, I have not deemed it advisable to repeat 
that answer here — but will cause each of you to be supplied with a copy 
thereof, and cannot doubt your being satisfied that I have at least fairly 
met the subject. The second branch of your inquiry, though scarcely of 
less importance, was not brought into view on that occasion. Nearly all 



-/4S VAN BUREN. 

now agree that the Federal Government possesses no power to interfere 
with the institution of slavery in the States ; and the general and undoubt- 
edly the correct principle is, that the Federal Government cannot apply 
the national funds to objects upon which they are either expressly prohib- 
ited from acting, or in respect to which there is an acknowledged absence 
of delegated authority. Usage, supposed necessity, and apparently un- 
controllable considerations of expediency, have, from time to time, led to 
limited expenditures, for which it was not easy to find a warrant in the 
Constitution. But these have always been regarded by the sincere friends 
of a strict construction of that instrument as matters to be regretted, and 
as far as possible to be prevented. The form of your question presents for 
consideration the points whether the consent of the slave States could 
confer on the Federal Government the constitutional power to apply the 
public funds to the emancipation of their slaves. I unhesitatingly say it 
could not, and that I never could give my sanction to such a measure. If 
State consent could confer power where the want of it would otherwise be 
so manifest, I find it difficult to conceive of any case in which the same 
result could not, with at least equal propriety, be claimed to follow from 
the same cause. The establishment of such a principle must, in my best 
judgment, inevitably lead to the prostration of that partition of powers be- 
tween the General and the State Governments, which the framers of the 
Constitution intended to erect, and might well be dreaded as an opening 
wedge to an early and more extended action by Congress upon the partic- 
ular subject under consideration. We have seen too much of the progres- 
sive character of constitutional encroachments in the early stages of the 
Government, to feel assured that a continued practice of contributing to the 
emancipation of slaves by the appropriation of money, might not, in course 
of time, lead to attempts by the Federal Government to accomplish the 
same object, without either the consent of the slave-holder, or indemnity for 
his loss. 

" You next ask me, gentlemen, whether I think that, at this time, the 
safety of the public money requires a rechartering of the United States 
Bank, or whether I would sign a bill chartering such an institution. My 
opinions upon the subject of a United States Bank were asked Avhen I was 
first a candidate for the Presidency in 1836, and were so fully given, as to 
meet not only your question, but also, T think, every aspect which the sub- 
ject can be made to assume. They will be found in my letter to the Hon. 
Sherrod Williams, of Kentucky, which has been extensively published, and 
are therein thus expressed : 

'You next ask whether I will sign and approve (if it becomes necessary 
to secure and save from depreciation the revenue and finances of the na- 
tion, and to afford a sound uniform currency to the people of the United 
States,) a bill (with proper modifications and restrictions) chartering a 
Bank of the United States. 

' In the published letter of Mr. Butler to Mr. Garland, which has al- 
ready been referred to, he thus states my opinions upon the subj.ect of the 
bank: "Mr. Van Burcn's opinions in regard to the Bank of the United 
States were expressed in the Senate of the United States in 1828; repeated 
in his letter to the Shocco Springs Committee, whilst a candidate for the 



VAN BUREN. 349 

Vice Presidency, and have been so freely uttered by him, that there can- 
not, I think, be occasion to say much upon that subject. But to close the 
door to cavil, I state, 1st. That he holds that Congress does not possess the 
power to establish a National Bank in any of the States of the Union, nor 
to establish in such States the branch of any bank located in the District 
of Columbia; and 2d. That he is, there foi-e, decidedly opposed to the es- 
tablishment of a National Bank in any of the States ; and is also opposed to 
the establishment of any such bank in the District of Columbia, as unne- 
cessary and inexpedient, and as liable to a great proportion of the abuses 
which have, in his opinion, been pi'actised by the existing bank." 

'This declaration, with other uniform, repeated and published avowals 
of my sentiments in regard to a United States Bank, would, I had sup- 
posed, be sufficient to save me from further interrogation on that subject ; 
but as you have thought proper to push the inquiry further, and, to that 
end, to place the matter before me in a form studiously adapted to present 
the question in its most favorable contingent aspect, you will, I am sure, 
be neither surprised nor dissatisfied, if I deem it due to myself as well as 
to the* subject, to give it more particular and enlarged consideration than I 
have heretofore felt it necessary or proper to do. 

' I am induced to embrace for this purpose the opportunity you have 
presented to me the more readily, from a deep conviction of the incalcula- 
ble importance to the people of the United States, that this long agitated 
and distracting subject should be finally settled, and from a hope that what 
I have to say upon it may, from the situation in which the partiality of my 
fellow-citizens has placed me, contribute in some degree to so desirable a 
result. 

' I greatly iear that whilst there is in any quarter reason to hope that a 
charter for a new bank can, in any condition of the country, be obtained 
from the Federal Government, there will be neither order nor stability in 
the pecuniary operations of the country. If it can be ascertained that a 
discredited currency and pecuniary embarrassments will bring a charter, 
what security have we that such a state of things will not be produced ? 
Is it doing violence to truth and justice, to attribute to expectations of this 
character, the crusade which we have witnessed for the last two years 
against the deposite banks, against the efforts of the administration to restore 
a specie currency, and against all the fiscal arrangements of the Treasury ? 
Will any candid and well-informed man pretend that such things would 
have been, if it had been considered as settled that the Bank of the United 
States is not to be revived ? I think not. The settlement of the deposite 
question, by the bill of the last session, will doubtless cause a suspension 
of this destructive career ; but is there not reason to apprehend that it will 
recommence with the first appearance of any thing like a reasonable chance 
for the re-establishment of a National Bank ? Every thing, therefore, 
which may serve *o arrest or prevent the agitation of this subject, if only 
for a season, is of great value. In the published opinions to which I have 
already referred, my opposition to the establishment of the United States 
Bank, in any of the States, is placed on the want of constitutional power 
in Congress to establish one. Those who concur in denying this power, 
nevertheless differ among themselves in regard to the particular views by 



350 VAN BUREN. 

wnich their respective opinions are sustained. Some admit that Congress 
has a right to create such an institution, whenever its establishment be- 
comes necessary to the collection, disbursement, and preservation of the 
revenue ; but insist that no such necessity existed when the charter of the 
old bank expired, or has arisen since. With this class, the considerations 
to which you allude would be essential, and might have a controlling ef- 
fect — for such persons make the power to establish a bank dependent upon 
them. . My objection, on the contrary, is, that the Constitution does not 
give Congress power to erect corporations within the States. This was 
the main point of Mr, Jefferson's celebrated opinion against the establish- 
ment of the first National Bank. It is an objection which nothing short 
of an amendment to the Constitution can remove. We know it to be an 
historical fact that the convention refused to confer that power on Con- 
gress, and I am opposed to its assumption by it upon any pretence what- 
ever. If its possession shall at any time become necessary, the only just 
way to obtain it is to ask it at the hands of the people, in the form prescri- 
bed by the Constitution. Holding this opinion, and sworn to support that 
instrument as it is, I could not find in the circumstances to which you refer, 
either warrant or excuse for the exercise of the authority in question ; and 
I am not only willing but desirous that the people of the United States 
should be fully informed of the precise ground I occupy on this subject. 
I desire more especially that they should know it now, when an opportu- 
nity, the best our form of Government affords, will soon be presented, to 
express their opinion of its propriety. If they are in favor of a National 
Bank, as a permanent branch of their institutions, or if they desire a Chief 
Magistrate who will consider it his duty to watch the course of events, 
and give or withhold his assent to such an institution according to the de- 
gree of necessity for it that may in his opinion arise from the considerations 
to which your question refers, they will see that my co-operation in the 
promotion of either of these views cannot be expected. If, on the other 
hand, with this seasonable, explicit, and published avowal before them, a 
majority of the people of the IJnited States shall nevertheless bestow upon 
me tlieir suffrages for the office of President, skepticism itself must cease 
to doubt, and admit their will to be that there shall not be any Bank of the 
United States, until the people, in the exercise of their sovereign authority, 
see fit to give to Congress the right to establish one. 

' It is because I cannot doubt that the expression of the popular will, 
made under such circumstances, must have a tendency to arrest further 
agitation of this disturbing subject, for four years at least, and most prob- 
ably, from the great moral influence which the often expressed opinion of 
the majority of the people in a Republican Government is entitled to, for a 
much longer period, that I am thus full and explicit upon the point to 
which you have called my attention. However much we may differ upon 
the abstract question involved in this controversy, no reflecting man can 
doubt the healthful and invigorating effects which anything that looks like 
a settlement of this question must have upon all the business, as well as 
political relations of the country. The public mind has been long and 
painfully agitated by it, and needs repose. The fruits of this agitation 
have been bi'ter and abundant. Men of business require to be put in a 



VAN BUREN. 351 

situation that they may adapt their affairs to a state of things which prom- 
ises permanency. That character is alone necessary to give success to 
the present system. No rational plan for the regulation of the fiscal affairs 
of the country can fail to succeed, if the mass of our industrious and en- 
terprising population, without regard to local, sectional or political distinc- 
tions, are only sincerely desirous for its success. Once satisfy them that 
things are in this respect to remain stable, and it is not in the nature of 
things possible that they can refuse their aid and support to that which con- 
cerns them so nearly, and upon which their prosperity, private as well as 
public, is so essentially dependent. If our correspondence shall have the 
effect to contribute in any degree to bring about a state. of things in which 
we all have so deep an interest, and which should be desired by all, I 
will rejoice that it has taken place.' 

" My convictions of the truth and justice of these views upon this vitally 
important question, have been confirmed by all my subsequent experience, 
and will, I doubt not, from the principles upon which they are founded, 
endure to the end of my life. 

" My opinions upon the tariff, which is the subject of your third ques- 
tion, were asked when I was a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, by a 
portion of my fellow-citizens of North Carolina, and freely given. Their 
application reached me but a short period before the then approaching elec- 
tion, and to secure in every portion of the Union as general and early a 
knowledge of my views as was practicable, I caused them to be forthwith 
published at Albany. They wei'e reiterated in 1836, when a candidate 
for the Presidency, and contain the general principles by which it is my 
intention to regulate my official course. I was seriously friendly to the 
passage of the compromise bill, and have always been, and still am, dis- 
posed to carry it into full and fair effect. The opinions of which I have 
spoken were expressed in the following terms : 

' Although my official acts in relation to the protective system might 
well be regarded as rendering the avowal unnecessary, I think it never- 
theless proper to say, that I believe the establishment of commercial regu- 
lations, with a view to the encouragementof domestic products, to be within 
the constitutional power of Congress. Whilst, however, I have entertain- 
ed this opinion, it has never been my wish to see the power in question 
exercised with an oppressive inequality upon any portion of our citizens, or 
for the advantage of one section of the Union at the expense of another. 
Oa the contrary, I have at all times believed it to be the sacred duty of 
those who are intrusted with the administration of tlie Federal Government 
to direct its operations in the manner best calculated to distribute, as equally 
as possible, its burdens and blessings amongst the several States and the 
people. My views upon this subject were several years ago spread before 
the people of the State, and have since been widely diffused through the 
medium of the public press. My object at that time Vv'as to invite the at- 
tention of my imm_ediate constituents to a dispassionate consideration of the 
subject in its various bearings, being well assured that such an investiga- 
tion would bring them to a standard, which, from its moderation and jus- 
tice, would furnish the best guarantee for the true interests of all. If, as 
has been supposed, those views have contributed in any degree to produce 



352 VAN BUR EN. 

a state of feeling so much to be desired, I have reason to be gratified with 
the result. 

' The approaching, and, if the policy of the present Executive is allowed 
to prevail, the certain and speedy extinguishment of the national debt, has 
presented an opportunity for a more equitable adjustment of the tariff, 
which has been already embraced by the adoption of a conciliatory meas- 
ure, the spirit of which will, I doubt not, continue to be cherished by all 
who are not desirous of advancing their private interests at the sacrifice of 
those of the public, and who place a just value upon the peace and har- 
mony of the Union. 

' The protective system, and its proper adjustment, became a subject of 
frequent and necessary consideration, whilst I formed a part of the Cab- 
inet ; and the manner in which the President proposed to carry into effect 
the policy in relation to imposts, recommended in his previous messages, 
has since been avowed with that frankness which belongs to his character. 
To this end, he recommended a modification of the tariff, which should 
produce a reduction of the revenue to the wants of the Government, and 
an adjustment of the duty upon imports, with a view to equal justice in 
relation to all our national interests, and to the counteraction of foreign 
policy, so far as it may be injurious to those interests.' 

"In these sentiments I fully concur; and I have been thus explicit in 
the statement of them, that there may be no room for misapprehension as 
to my own views upon the subject. A sincere and faithful application of 
these principles to our legislation, unwarped by private interest or political 
design — a restriction of the wants of the Government to a simple and eco- 
nomical administration of its affairs — the only administration which is 
consistent with the purity and stability of the Republican system — a pre- 
ference in encouragement given to such manufactures as are essential to 
the national defence, and its extension to others in proportion as they are 
adapted to our country, and of which the raw material is produced by our- 
selves, with a proper respect for the rule which demands that all taxes 
should be imposed in proportion to the ability and condition of the contrib- 
utors, would, I am convinced, give ultimate satisfaction to a vast majority 
of the people of the United States, and arrest that spirit of discontent which 
IS now unhappily so prevalent, and which threatens such extensive injury 
to the institutions of our country. 

" You next ask me whether 1 would sanction any bill granting appropri- 
ations of the public money, for the purposes of internal improvement, by 
means of canals, railroads, &c. 

" My views upon the subject of internal improvement by the Federal 
Government were given at the same time, and upon the same application. 
They are as follows : 

' Internal improvements are so diversified in their nature, and the possi- 
ble agency of the Federal Government in their construction so variable in 
its character and degree, as to render it not a little difficult to lay down 
any precise rule that will embrace the whole subject. The broadest and 
best defined division is that which distinguishes between the direct construc- 
tion of works of internal improvement by the General Government, and 
pecuniary assistance given by it to such as are undertaken by others. In 



VAN BUREN. 353 

the former are included the right to make and establish roads and canals 
withni the States, and the assumption of as much jurisdiction over the ter- 
ritory they may occupy, as is necessary to their preservation and use. The 
latter is restricted to simple grants of money, in aid of such works, when 
made under State authority. 

' The Federal Government does not, in my opinion, possess the power 
first specified ; nor can it derive it from the assent of the State in which 
such works are to be constructed. The money power, as it is called, is 
not so free from difficulty. Various rules have from time to time been 
suggested by those who properly appreciate the importance of precision 
and certainty in the operations of the Federal power ; but they have been 
so frequently infringed upon by the apparently unavoidable action of the 
Government, that a final and satisfactory settlement of the question has 
been prevented. The wide difference between a definition of the power in 
question upon paper, and its practical application to the operations of Gov- 
ernment, has been sensibly felt by all who have been intrusted with the 
management of public affairs. The whole subject was reviewed in the 
President's Maysville message. Sincerely believing that the best interests 
of the whole country, the quiet, not to say the stability, of the Union, and 
the preservation of that moral force which perhaps, as much as any other, 
holds it together, imperiously required that the destructive course of legis- 
lation upon that subject then pi'evalent, should, in some proper and consti- 
tutional way, be arrested, I throughout gave to the measure, of which that 
document was an exposition, my active, zealous, and anxious support. 

' The opinions declared by the President in the Maysville, and his succeed- 
ing annual message, as I understand them, are as follows : 1st. That Con- 
gress does not possess the power to make and establish a road or canal 
within a State, with a right of jurisdiction to the extent I have stated ; and 
that if it is the wish of the people that the construction of such works 
should be undertaken by the Federal Government, a previous amendment 
of the Constitution conferring that power, and defining and restricting its 
exercise, with reference to the sovereignty of the States, is indispensable. 
2d. An intimation of his belief that the right to make appropriations in aid 
of such internal improvements tis are of a national character, has been so 
generally acted upon, and so long acquiesced in by the Federal and State 
Governments, and the constituents of each, as to justify its exercise ; but 
that it is nevertheless highly expedient that even such appropriations 
should, with the exception of such as relate to light-houses, beacons, buoys, 
public piers, and other improvements in the harbors and navigable rivers 
of the United States, for the security and facility of our foreign commerce, 
be deferred at least until our national debt is paid. 3d. That if it is the 
wish of the people that the agency of the Federal Government should be 
restricted to the appropriation of money, and extended in that form in aid 
of such undertakings, when carried on by State authority, then the occa- 
sion, the manner, and the extent of the appropriation, should be made the 
subject of constitutional regulation. 

' In these views I concurred ; and I likewise participated in the difficul- 
ties which were encountered, and expressed by the President, rn adopting 
the principle which concedes to the Federal Government the right to make 

45 



354 VAN BUREN. 

appropriations in aid of works which might be regarded as of a national 
character — difficulties which arose as well from the danger of considering 
mere usage the foundation of the right, as from the extreme uncertainty 
and consequent insecurity of the best rule that had ever been adopted, or 
that could, in the absence of positive constitutional provision, be establish- 
ed. The reasons on which these objections were founded, are so fully 
stated in the document referred to, and have been so extensively promul- 
gated, that it is unnecessary for me to repeat them here. Subsequent re- 
flection and experience have confirmed my apprehension of the injurious 
consequences which would probably flow from the continuation of appro- 
priations for internal improvements, with no better rule for the government 
of Congress than that of which I have spoken ; and I do not hesitate to 
express it as my opinion, that the general and true interests of the country 
would be best consulted by withholding them, with the exceptions which I 
have already referred to, until some constitutional regulation upon the 
subject has been made. 

' In this avowal I am certainly not influenced by feelings of indifference, 
much less of hostility to internal improvements. As such, they can have 
no enemies. I have never omitted to give them all the proper aid in my 
power, for which, by the way, I claim no particular merit, as I do not be- 
lieve there is an honest and sane man in the country who does not wish to 
see them prosper ; but their construction, and the manner in which, and 
the means by which they are to be effected, are quite different questions. 
Rather than again expose our legislation to all the corrupting influences 
of those scrambles and combinations in Congress which have been here- 
tofore witnessed, and the other affairs of the country to the injurious effects 
unavoidably resulting from them, it would, in my opinion, be infinitely 
preferable to leave works of the character spoken of, and not embraced in 
the exception which has been pointed out, for the present, to the supports 
upon which they have reposed with so much success for the last two years, 
viz : State efforts and private enterprise. If the great body of the people 
become convinced that the progress of these works should be accelerated 
by the Federal arm, they will not refuse to come to some proper constitu- 
tional arrangement upon the subject. The supposition that an equitable 
rule, which pays a proper respect to the interests and condition of the dif- 
ferent States, could fail to receive ultimately the constitutional sanction, 
would be doing injustice to the intelligence of the country. By such a 
settlement of the question, our political system, in addition to the other ad- 
vantages derived from it, would, in relation to this subject at least, be 
relieved from those dangerous shocks which spring from diversities of opin- 
ion upon constitutional points of deep interest ; and, in the mean time, the 
resources of the country would be best husbanded by being left in the 
hands of those by whose labor they are produced.' 

" To this exposition of my opinions upon the general subject, were added 
some additional observations, in my letter to Mr. Williams, already refer- 
red to. They were chiefly applicable to ' the improvements of our harbors, 
and the removal of partial and temporary obstructions in our navigable 
rivers, for the facility of our foreign commerce,' and the best means of 
checking the tendency to abuses which such appropriations often produced. 



VAN BUREN. 355 

To the principles laid down in the two publications referred to, I still ad- 
here ; and it has been my endeavor to carry them into full and fair effect 
in the administration of the Government, since I have been at its head. If 
they have been departed from, in respect to any works commenced under 
my administration, I am not advised of it." 

General Harrison succeeded Mr. Van Buren on the 4th of March, 1841. 
The Ex-President soon after left the seat of the General Government for 
his fine estate at Kinderhook, on the Hudson, where he now resides, in the 
enjoyment of wealth, of ease, and of the confidence of a large and powerful 
party of his countrymen. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 

William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States, was a 
native of Virginia, a son of the incorruptible old patriot whose name is 
attached to the Declaration of Independence, and a lineal descendant of 
that General Harrison, who bore a distinguished part during the English 
civil wars, in the armies of the Commonwealth. The family of Harrison 
were among the earliest settlers of the colony of Virginia, and the name 
appears among the most prominent mentioned in the annals of that province. 

Benjamin Harrison, the father of the President, was one of the most dis- 
tinguished patriots of our country. Before he was twenty-one years of 
age, he was elected a member of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, in 
which he represented his native district for many years. Here he early 
displayed his love of freedom, and united with that patriotic band of mem- 
bers who resolved on resisting the oppressions of the mother country. In 
November, 1764, he was placed on a committee to prepare an address to 
the King, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a remonstrance to the 
Commons, in opposition to the odious stamp act. In August, 1774, he was 
elected a delegate from Virginia to the first Continental Congress, which 
assembled at Philadelphia, on the first of September following ; and on 
that day, he had the gratification of seeing his colleague and brother-in- 
law, Peyton Randolph, placed in the presidential chair, by the unanimous 
voice of the Convention. 

After the death of Mr. Randolph, Congress, on assembling, in 1775, 
were called upon to choose a new president. The southern members al- 
most unanimously agreed upon the selection of Mr. Harrison for the chair 
vacated by the death of his relative. But as the name of John Hancock 
had also been proposed, Mr. Harrison, justly considering the importance 
of conciliating the northern feeling, at so momentous a crisis, with a gen- 
erous self-denial, waived his claims, and urged with great zeal the appoint- 
ment of Hancock, who was consequently unanimously chosen to that high 
station. 

Wain, in his Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, says of Mr. Hancock : — 

" With a modesty not unnatural for his years, and a consciousness of 
the difficulty he might experience in filling a station of such high impor- 
tance and responsibility, he hesitated to take the seat. Mr. Harrison was 
standing beside him, and with the ready good humor that loved a joke, 
even in the Senate-House, he seized the modest candidate in his athletic 
arms, and placed him in the presidential chair ; then turning to some of 
the members around, he exclaimed, ' We will show mother Britain how 
little we care for her, by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom 
she has excluded from pardon by public proclamation.' " 



v^ 



358 HARRISON. 

Mr. Harrison continued to be an active and influential member of the 
Continental Congress, to which he was returned four times as a delegate. 
On the tenth of June, 1776, as chairman of the committee of the whole 
House, he introduced the resolution which declared the independence of 
the colonies ; and on the following ever-memorable fourth of July, he 
reported the more formal Declaration of Independence, to which celebrated 
document his signature is annexed. 

On the expiration of his last term of service in Congress, Mr. Harrison 
was elected to the House of Burgesses from his own county, and was at 
once chosen speaker of that body ; an office which he held uninterruptedly 
until the year 1782, when he was elected Governor of Virginia, and be- 
came one of the most popular officers that ever filled the executive cliair. 
This eminent patriot died in the year 1791. 

William Henry Harrison was born on the ninth of February, 1773, 
at Berkeley, on the James river, in Charles-City county. He was the 
third and younger son ; and altliough the father was not wealthy, the son 
inherited a rich legacy in a name rendered honorable as connected with the 
first struggles of the country for freedom. On the death of his father, 
William Henry Harrison was placed under the guardianship of his inti- 
mate friend, Robert Morris, the great financier of the revolution. He was 
educated at Hampden Sidney College, and aft^erwards applied himself to 
the study of medicine as a profession. But before he had completed his 
course of studies, the barbarities of the Indians in their incursions upon our 
thin and scattered settlements upon the north-western frontiers, kindled a 
feeling of indignation throughout the country. The service was at that 
time neither popular nor inviting ; but our young student resolved to give 
up his profession, and join the army destined to the defence of the Ohio 
frontier. His guardian, Mr. Morris, attempted to dissuade him from this 
purpose, but his resolution had been deliberately taken ; and on communi- 
cating it to General Washington, that great man, beholding in the young 
son of his friend the germs of future greatness, cordially approved his 
patriotic determination. The Indian war was at that time assuming a very 
alarming aspect. Few of the Indians continued in peaceful relations with 
the United States, while the powerful tribes of the Miamies, the Hurons, or 
Wyandots, the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Kickapoos, the Potowatomies, 
the Ottawas, and the Winnebagoes, who occupied all the borders of our 
northern lakes, and were scattered through the whole immense extent of 
our north-western territory, were engaged in active hostility against the 
United States. 

Encouraged by the British authorities in Canada, who, in violation of 
the treaty of peace, still held forcible possession of Detroit, Mackinaw, Ni- 
agara, and other points in our acknowledged territory, the Indians persisted 
in their savage incursions ; and scarce a day passed without some new tale 
of violence and bloodshed. From 1783 to 1791, it has been estimated that 
more than fifteen hundred of our hardy pioneers of the west had fallen 
victims to the rifle and scalping-knife of their savage foes. Our north- 
westei'n frontier presented an appalling scene of rapine, conflagration, and 
wanton destruction of life and property. Many of our border settlements 
had been crushed in their infancy, and all had been retarded in their 



HARRISON. 359 

growth. Expedition after expedition, fitted out to oppose them, had met 
with the most disheartening losses ; and finally, a gallant army, under 
Brigadier-General Harmer, which had been sent expressly to chastise 
these savages, after destroying some of their towns, had been signally de- 
feated by them, and almost annihilated. Of the few experienced officers 
who escaped from Harmer's defeat, nearly all, worn out with the fatigues 
of a service so harassing, and shrinking fi'om a warfare of so dangerous 
and barbarous a nature, had resigned their commissions ; and a general 
feeling of dismay began to pervade the whole of our exposed frontier. 

After the defeat of Harmer, a new army was raised, and placed under 
the command of the veteran General St. Clair. This brave but unfortunate 
commander moved his army slowly and cautiously to the head waters of 
the Wabash, opening a road, and establishing forts at suitable distances. 
By the 1st of November, 1791, he was in the midst of the Indian country, 
and within fifteen miles of the Miami villages. On the 4th, his camp was 
suddenly attacked about daylight, by an immense body of savages, aided 
by white auxiliaries from Canada. The assailants being well protected 
by the shelter of the trees and mounds of earth, fired from the ground, and 
were scarcely to be seen, except when they rose to spring from one shelter 
to another. They advanced rapidly in front, and upon either flank, up to 
the very mouths of the American field-pieces. 

The militia occupying the front were dismayed by the impetuosity and 
violence of this unexpected attack, and falling back upon the regulars, 
threw them into confusion. In vain the officers endeavored to rally and 
re-form their men ; their success was only partial. Twice were the Indi- 
ans driven back by desperate charges ; but while they gave way at one 
point to the bayonets of our soldiers, from every other quarter they poured 
in a heavy and destructive fire upon the lines, until the whole army was 
thrown into the greatest confusion, and a most disorderly retreat ensued. 
The savages pursued their conquered foe for miles, and the woods were 
strewn with the bodies of the dead and dying. Of fourteen hundred men, 
five hundred and thirty were killed, and three hundred and sixty wounded. 

These sad reverses created an intense excitement throughout the coun- 
try, and rendered it imperative upon the government to place the army 
under the command of a military chief of well-earned reputation ; a cau- 
tious, discreet, brave, and energetic soldier. The two most prominent at 
that period, were George Rogers Clark and Anthony Wayne. They had 
both fought in the revolution, held separate commands, and had planned 
and executed the most daring and successful enterprises. The latter was 
known through the whole army, and in every quarter of the Union, as Mad 
Anthony, from his eventful fortunes and daring adventures. The calcula- 
ting mind of the discriminating Washington singled out Mad Anthony to 
command the western army, and he at once received orders to that efTect. 

The United States Legion, as Wayne's army was called under the new 
organization, rendezvoused at Pittsburgh, in the summer of 1792. In No- 
vember following, they went into winter quarters at an eligible position on 
the Ohio, 22 miles below, which they called Legionville. On the 30th April, 
1793, General Wayne broke up his winter encampment at this place, and 
conveyed his army in boats down the Ohio to Fort Washington. 



360 HARRISON. 

Such was the situation of the western country, when young Harrison, 
then nineteen years of age, having received from the hands of Washington 
the commission of an ensign in the first regiment of artillery, joined his 
corps at Fort Washington, which stood upon the site now occupied by the 
Queen city of the West. 

Soon after his arrival at Fort Washington, it became necessary to despatch 
a train of pack horses to Fort Hamilton, about thirty miles distant, upon the 
great Miami. This train was under the charge of a body of soldiers from 
the fort, and the whole was placed under the command of young Harrison. 
This was the first charge confided to his care. Though the distance was 
short, the state of the country, and the thousands of savages peopling the 
whole forest, rendered the enterprise extremely perilous ; and constant 
exposure required uninterrupted watchfulness, and much more thought, 
attention, and wisdom than can often be found in a lad not yet out of his 
teens. This service was performed with great credit to himself, and Gen. 
eral St. Clair openly acknowledged his pleasure at the success of his young 
officer, bestowing upon him the warmest praise and commendation. He 
rapidly gained the entire confidence of his officers, and in 1792 was pro- 
moted to the rank of lieutenant. 

During the summer of 1793, the Indians having signified a desire for 
peace, commissioners were appointed to treat with them, but without suc- 
cess. General Wayne, during this time, was busily employed in disciplining 
and reinforcing his troops ; and having at length received instructions from 
the Secretary of War to commence active operations, he left Fort Wash- 
ington in October, and advanced with his army about eighty miles along 
the south-western branch of the Miami, where he took up his position, and 
erected fortifications. To this post he gave the name of Greenville, and 
here the army went into winter quarters. The winter, however, was not 
spent in idleness. On the 23d December, General Wayne sent a detachment 
of eight companies of infantry, and a battalion of artillery, to take posses- 
.sion of the ground upon which St. Clair and his gallant army had been so 
terribly defeated on the 4th of November, two years before. Lieutenant 
Harrison was not drafted for this expedition ; but, longing for more active 
employment, he volunteered for the service, and his assistance was accepted 
by the commander. 

The battle-field was soon in the hands of the soldiers, notwithstanding 
the inclemency of the season, and a fortification was immediately erected, 
to which the name of Fort Recovery was given. The bones of the mur- 
dered soldiers were carefully collected, and interred with military honors. 
The same pieces of artillery lost on the fatal 4th of November, 1791, were 
recovered ; and, from their thunder-belching mouths, three times three dis- 
charges were fired over the remains of the western heroes. 

Upon the return of the expedition, General Wayne issued a general order 
of thanks to the officers and men for their gallant conduct on the occasion, 
in which Lieutenant Harrison was particularly mentioned among other 
officers. 

On the 30th of June, 1794, Fort Recovery was fiercely assailed by a 
large body of Indians, aided by British and Canadian auxiliaries. But 
though their assaults were unusually bold and daring, and repeatedly 



HARRISON. 361 

renewed, they were each time bravely repulsed, and were finally compel- 
led to retreat with great loss. About two weeks subsequent to this attack 
on Fort Recovery, General Wayne was reinforced by a body of mounted 
volunteers from Kentucky, under the command of General Scott. On the 
8th of the following August, having, by a rapid movement, advanced sev- 
enty miles beyond Greenville, he encamped at Grand Glaise, in the very 
heart of the Indian country. In his despatch to the War Department on 
this occasion, the commander-in-chief says — " We have thus gained pos- 
session of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians in the West, without 
loss of blood. The very extensive and highly-cultivated fields and gardens 
show the work of many hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers, 
the Miami of the Lake and Au Glaise, appear like one continued village 
for a number of miles above and below the place ; nor have I ever before 
beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America, from Canada 
to Florida." 

A strong work, called Fort Defiance, was immediately erected by our 
troops at the confluence of the rivers mentioned in the above despatch. 
General Wayne now felt himself fully prepared for decisive operations ; 
but before striking the final blow, he, in compliance with his instructions, 
renewed his endeavors to conciliate and effect some amicable negotiation 
with the Indians. " I have thought proper," he said, " to offer the enemy 
a last overture of peace ; and as they have every thing that is dear and 
interesting at stake, I have reason to expect they will listen to the prop- 
osition mentioned in the enclosed copy of an address despatched yesterday 
by a special flag, under circumstances that will insure his safe return, and 
may eventually spare the effusion of much humarj blood. But should war 
be their choice, that blood be upon their own heads. America shall no 
longer be insulted with impunity. To an all-powerful and just God, I 
therefore commit myself and gallant army." 

These proposals were rejected by the enemy, although the great chief 
Little Turtle, who had planned and led the attack in the defeat of St. 
Clair, urged them to embrace the terms offered. " We have beaten the 
white men twice," said he, " under separate commanders. We cannot 
expect the same good fortune to attend us always. The Americans are 
now led by a chief who never sleeps — the night and the day are alike to 
him ; and during all the time he has been marching upon our villages, 
notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been 
able to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something whispers me 
it would be prudent to listen to his offers of peace." 

The day after this speech was delivered, was fought the memorable 
battle of the 20th August, 1794, which cannot be better described than by 
quoting a portion of the graphic account of General Wayne, in his official 
despatch to the Secretary of War : 

" At 8 o'clock on the 20th," said General Wayne, "the army advanced 
in columns, agreeably to the standing order of march ; the legion on the 
right flank, covered by the Miami — one brigade of mounted volunteers on 
the left, under Brigadier-General Todd, and the other in the rear, under 
Brigadier-General Barbee : — a select battalion of mounted volunteers moved 
in front of the legion, commanded by Major Price, who was dii'ected to 

46 



362 HARRISON. 

keep sufficiently advanced, so as to give timely notice for the troops to 
form, in case of action, it being yet undetermined whether the Indians 
would decide for peace or war. After advancing about five miles. Major 
Price's corps received so severe a fire from the enemy, who were seci'eted 
in the woods and high grass, as to compel them to retreat. 

" The legion was immediately formed in two lines, principally in a close, 
thick wood, which extended for miles on our left ; and for a very consider, 
able distance in front, the ground being covered with old fallen timber, 
probably occasioned by a tornado, which rendered it impracticable for cav- 
alry to act with effect, and afforded the enemy the most favorable covert 
for their savage mode of warfare, they were formed in tnree lines, within 
supporting distance of each other, and extending nearly two miles, at right 
angles with the river. 

" I soon discovered, from the weight of the fire, and the extent of their 
lines, that the enemy were in full force in front, in possession of their 
favorite ground, and endeavoring to turn our left flank. I therefore gave 
orders for the second line to advance, to support the first, and directed Ma- 
jor-General Scott to gain and turn the right flank of the savages, with the 
whole of the mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route — at the same time 
I ordered the front line to advance with trailed arms, and rouse the Indians 
from their coverts at the point of the bayonet ; and when up, to deliver a 
close and well-directed fire on their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so 
as not to give them time to load again. I also ordered Captain Miss. Camp- 
bell, who commanded the legionary cavalrv, to turn the left flank of the 
enemy next the river, which afforded a lavorable field for that corps to act 
in. All these orders were obeyed with spirit and promptitude ; but such 
was the impetuosity of the charge of the first line of infantry, that the 
Indians and Canadian militia and volunteers were driven from all their 
coverts in so short a time, that although every exertion was used by the 
officers of the second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, and 
Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper positions, yet but 
a part of each could get up in season to participate in the action ; the en- 
emy being driven, in the course of one hour, more than two miles, through 
the thick woods already mentioned, by less than one-half their numbers. 

" From every account, the enemy amounted to two thousand combat- 
ants ; the troops actually engaged against them were short of nine hundred. 
This horde of savages, with their allies, abandoned themselves to flight, 
and dispersed with terror and dismay, leaving our victorious army in full 
and quiet possession of the field of battle, which terminated under the in- 
fluence of the guns of the British garrison. 

" Enclosed is a particular return of the killed and wounded — the loss 
of the enemy was more than double that of the federal army. The woods 
were strewed for a considerable distance with the dead bodies of the Indi- 
ans and their white auxiliaries ; the latter armed with British muskets and 
bayonets. 

" We remained three days and nights on the banks of the Miami, in front 
of the field of battle, during which all the houses and corn-fields were con- 
sumed and destroyed for a considerable distance, both above and below 
Fort Miami, as well as within pistol-shot of that garrison, who were com- 



HARRISON. 368 

pelled to remain tacit spectators of this general devastation and conflagra- 
tion — among which were the houses, stores, and property of Colonel M'Kee, 
the British Indian agent, and principal stimulator of the war now existing 
between the United States and the savages." 

The success of this brilliant action was owing not only to the admirable 
discipline which General Wayne had introduced, but to his method of ex- 
tending his line, and forming his troops in open order, and charging rapidly 
upon the Indians, rousing them from their coverts at the point of the bayo- 
net, and pouring in upon them a deadly fire before they could again find 
shelter. This system has been more or less practised upon in all our sub- 
sequent Indian wars. 

The gallant bearing of Lieutenant Harrison in this action, was thus 
noticed by General Wayne, in his despatch to the Secretary of War : " My 
faithful and gallant aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Harrison, rendered the most 
essential service by communicating my orders in every direction, and by 
his conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory." 

The result of the battle of the Maumee Rapids greatly disheartened the 
Indians ; and their discontent became very soon apparent at the vacillating 
conduct of the commander of the British fort, who, after their disastrous 
defeat, refused to take part in their behalf. Two of the most powerful 
chiefs, Little Turtle and Buckongelas, beginning to doubt the power of the 
English to protect them, and learning to respect our strength, openly decla- 
red in favor of the United States ; and, through their influence, negotia- 
tions for peace were opened on the first of January, 1795. This led to the 
treaty of Greenville, by which the Indians relinquished an immense terri- 
tory to the United States. The news of Wayne's victory had a favorable 
effect upon our pending negotiations in London, and is supposed to have 
enabled our minister, Mr. Jay, to secure the assent of Lord Grenville to 
the surrender to the United States of all the forts held and occupied by the 
British in the noi'th-west, within the jurisdiction of our government. The 
settlers had now uninterrupted possession of the disputed territory, and em- 
igration rapidly progressed. 

Soon after the close of this campaign, Lieutenant Harrison received the 
commission of a captain, and was placed in command of Fort Washington, 
under circumstances which evinced the high estimation in which his talents 
and discretion were held by General Wayne. At this period France was 
at war with Spain ; and certain agents of the French government had been 
sent to Kentucky by Genet, the French minister, and were then diligently 
employed in exciting the gallant people of that state to an invasion of Lou- 
isiana, by which means they hoped to embroil our country in a war with 
Spain. General Wayne received instructions to adopt every precaution to 
prevent the occurrence of such a result ; and in giving the command of 
Fort Washington to Captain Harrison, he left with him extensive discre- 
tionary powers in relation to the management of this delicate responsibility. 
About this time, too, in compliance with the terms of Jay's treaty, the mil- 
itary posts, which, in defiance of good faith, had been established by the 
British on our north-western frontier, were given up to the United Slates ; 
and Captain Harrison was charged with the important duty of despatching 
from Fort Washington the troops destined to take possession of the surren ■ 



364 HARRISON. 

dered forts, and of forwarding through the wilderness the stores and mu. 
nitions of war necessary for these remote posts. 

" It is no slight evidence," says Hall, in his memoir of Harrison, " of 
the prudence, ability, and intelligence of Harrison, that, at an early age, 
and with the rank only of captain, he was selected by the discriminating 
Wayne to discharge duties so important, and to exercise a responsibility so 
delicate. It is enough to say that in this, as well as on various subsequent 
trusts reposed in him throughout a long career, he honorably vindicated, 
by his fidelity and zeal, the choice of the appointing power." 

Captain Harrison remained at Fort Washington, discharging his arduous 
and complicated duties with boldness and punctuality. While there, he 
married the daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the founder of the Miami 
settlements. " She has been," says Hall, " the faithful companion of 
this distinguished patriot, during the various perils and vicissitudes of his 
eventful life, and still lives to witness the maturity of his fame, and the 
honors paid him by a grateful country." 

On the death of General Wayne, in 1797, Captain Harrison left the 
army, and received his first civil appointment, as Secretary and ex-officio 
Lieutenant-Governor of the North- Western Territory. While in this sta- 
tion, he entered so warmly into the interests of the people, that when, in 
the following year, the North- Western Territory was declared to be enti- 
tled to a representation in Congress, Mr. Harrison was almost unanimously 
elected their first delegate to Congress. He was at this time about twenty- 
six years of age. He took his seat in the House of Representatives at 
the first session of the sixth Congress, in December, 1799. At this period, 
the all-engrossing subject in the west, and one in which the whole country 
had a deep interest, was the disposition of the public lands. The manner 
in which these lands had been hitherto disposed of, had created great dis- 
satisfaction among the people. These lands had been sold only in large 
tracts, the smallest of which included, at leastj^^four th ousa nd acres: and 
as the minimum price was at that time two dollars per "acre, a great ma- 
jority of the new settlers were utterly precluded from becoming possessors 
of land by an original purchase from the government. Our hardy yeo- 
manry, with limited pecuniary means, were thus entirely shut out from 
all chance of competition with wealthy speculators and grasping monop- 
olists — the poorer emigrants were becoming disheartened at the chilling 
prospects before them, and the settlement of the new country was greatly 
retarded. Fully aware of the impolicy and injustice of this state of things, 
and true to the trust confided to him, Mr. Harrison's earliest legislative 
eflTorts were made to overthrow this exclusive and pernicious system. He 
aroused the attention of Congress to the consideration of this important sub- 
ject, and evinced so intimate an acquaintance with the facts and business 
details connected with it, that he was appointed chairman of a committee 
raised to examine into and report on the existing mode of disposing of the 
public lands ; the only instance, it is believed, in which that honor has 
been conferred on a territorial delegate. After a proper investigation, he 
presented a report, accompanied by a bill, the principal object of which was 
to reduce the size of the tracts of public land offered for sale, to such a 
smaller number of acres as would place them within the reach of actual 



HARRISON. 365 

settlers. This masterly report, which was the joint production of him- 
self and Mr. Gallatin, together with the great ability and eloquence 
with which he defended his bill from the powerful opposition it encountered 
in the House, gained Mr. Harrison a reputation rarely attained by so young 
a statesman. The bill was carried triumphantly in the House, and finally, 
after some amendments, passed the Senate. The result was, that the pub- 
lic lands, instead of being offered only in large tracts, of which four thou- 
sand acres was the smallest size, were now to be sold in alternate sections 
and half sections — the former containing six hundred and forty, and the 
latter three hundred and twenty acres each. 

In the year 1800, the North- Western Territory was divided. That part 
of the old territory included within the present boundaries of Ohio and 
Michigan, retained its former name ; and the immense extent of country 
north-west of this, was erected into a separate government, and received 
the name of Indiana. Soon after this division had taken place, Mr. Har- 
rison resigned his seat in Congress, and was appointed governor of the new 
territory. This appointment gave great satisfaction to the people of Indi- 
ana, with whom the patriotic exertions of Mr. Harri-son had rendered him 
deservedly popular. 

As governor of this territory, Mr. Harrison was invested with extraor- 
dinary civil power, as well as with military authority. Besides the ordi- 
nary powers which he held, ex-qfficio, as governor, he had the sole power 
of dividing the district into counties and townships ; and, with the aid of 
the judges, had full authority to adopt and publish such laws, both civil 
and criminal, of the original states, as might be necessary and best adapt- 
ed to the wants and situation of the district ; and he had the appointment 
of all the magistrates and other civil officers. He was made commander- 
in-chief of the militia, and all the officers below the rank of general received 
their commissions from him. He was likewise appointed superintendent 
of Indian affairs, and agent and representative of the general government ; 
in performance of the duties of which office, he was required to keep up a 
constant and voluminous correspondence with the Cabinet at Washington. i^'' 
He had also the unusual power of conferring on a numerous class of indi- 
viduals a legal title to large grants of land, on which they before held 
merely an equitable claim. His sole signature was sufficient, without any 
other formality, to give a valid title to these extensive and valuable tracts 
of land. No other formality or publicity was required. Possessed of this 
immense power, with opportunities to have amassed wealth by millions, he 
never availed himself of the opportunity to enhance his own private in- 
terests, directly or indirectly ; and not a breath of suspicion ever clouded 
his honor or honesty. 

In 1803, Governor Harrison was appointed by President Jefferson sole 
" commissioner to enter into any treaties which might be necessary with 
any Indian tribes north-west of the Ohio, and within the territory of the 
United States, on the subject of their boundaries or lands." By virtue of 
this authority, in the following year, Harrison succeeded in negotiating a 
treaty with the Sacs and Foxes ; and besides the amicable relations estab- 
lished with those tribes, he obtained the cession of an extensive tract of 
country, including the whole of the valuable region between the river 



366 HARRISON. 

Illinois and the Mississippi, with a northern boundary, stretching from the 
head of Fox river to a point on the Wisconsin, thirty-six miles above its 
mouth. This was the largest cession of lands that had ever yet been made 
by the Indians at any one time. Considerable tracts of land between the 
Ohio and the Wabash, and extending from Vincennes westward to the 
Mississippi, were likewise purchased by annuities from the Delawares and 
the Miamies. 

For thi.rteen ygajigj Mr. Harrison filled the office of governor of this ter- 
ritory, the people of which were almost universally attached to him. A 
strong instance of this attachment is found in the following extract from a 
resolution unanimously adopted by the House of Representatives of Indi- 
ana, in 1809 : " They (the House of Representatives) cannot forbear 
recommending to, and requesting of, the President and Senate, most ear- 
nestly in their own names, and in the names of their constituents, the re- 
appointment of the present governor, William Henry Harrison ; because 
he possesses the good wishes and affection of a great majority of his fellow- 
citizens ; because they believe him sincerely attached to the Union, the 
prosperity of the United States, and the administration of its government ; 
because they believe him in a superior degree capable of promoting the 
interest of our territory, from long experience and laborious attention to its 
concerns, from his influence over the Indians, and wise and disinterested 
management of that department ; and because they have confidence in his 
virtues, talents, and republicanism." 

In 1805, the territory having entered upon the second grade of govern- 
ment, the people were allowed a legislature. They elected members of 
the lower House, and this body nominated ten persons, out of whom five 
were selected by Congress to form the Territorial Council. Governor Har- 
risen warmly urged this change, although it deprived him personally of 
much power and patronage. 

In the year 1806, the friendly relations which had for some time existed 
with the Indians, were broken by the intrigues of the two celebrated chiefs 
of the Shawnee tribe, Tecumseh and the Prophet. The design of these 
arch-intriguers was to form a confederacy of all the north and south-western 
tribes, for the purpose of preventing the whites from extending their new 
settlements further west, and by striking a deadly blow simultaneously 
along our ill-defended and extensive frontier, to expel the whites from the 
valleys of the west. It is now a matter of history that British emissaries 
from Canada were employed in forming alliances with the most powerful 
chiefs, and fomenting their hostility against the Americans. These move- 
ments amongst the tribes did not escape the vigilance of Governor Harrison, 
who, by a prudent course of policy, for several years kept the savages in 
check. In the summer of 1808, the Prophet encamped with his followers 
on the banks of the Tippecanoe. Conscious that Governor Harrison sus- 
pected the hostile designs of the chiefs, this cunning impostor formed the 
audacious resolve to visit the governor, and lull his suspicions by the 
warmest protestations of friendship. He visited Vincennes, proclaimed 
himself amicably disposed to the Americans, returned to Tippecanoe, and 
renewed his intrigues, intelligence of which was immediately conveyed to 
the governor. 



HARRISON 367 

In 1809, Governor Harrison held a council at Fort Wayne, with the chiefs 
of the Miamies, Delawares, Potawatomies, and Kickapoos, which resulted in 
the cession of an extensive tract of country on both sides the Wabash, and up 
that river for more than sixty miles above Vincennes. Tecumseh and the 
Prophet affected great dissatisfaction at this treaty ; upon which Governor 
Harrison sent word to the Prophet, that he might come forward and exhibit 
any title he had to any portion of the lands transferred by the treaty, and 
if it was found just and equitable, the lands would be restored, or an ample 
equivalent given for them. 

On the 12th August, 1810, Tecumseh visited Governor Harrison at Vin- 
cennes. The governor had sent him word not to bring more than thirty 
warriors with him, but he appeared with over three hundred, all completely 
armed. His excuse for this conduct was the pretended belief of intended 
treachery on the part of the whites. Tecumseh addressed this council in 
an animated speech, openly avowing the designs of himself and his brother, 
which were, to form a coalition of all the red men, to prevent the whites 
from extending their settlements farther west, and to establish the principle 
that the Indian lands belonged in common to all the tribes, and could not 
be sold without their united consent. 

In reply. Governor Harrison said that, " when the white people arrived 
on this continent, they found the Miamies in the occupation of all the coun- 
try on the Wabash, and at that time the Shawnees were residents of 
Georgia, from which they were driven by the Creeks. The lands have 
been purchased from the Miamies, who were the true and original owners 
of it. It is ridiculous to assert that all the Indians are one nation ; for if 
such had been the intention of the Great Spirit, he would not have put six 
different tongues into their heads, but would have taught them all to speak 
one language. 

" The Miamies have found it to their interest to sell a part of their lands, 
and to receive for them a further annuity, in addition to what they have 
long enjoyed, and the benefit of which they have experienced from the 
punctuality with which the seventeen fires* comply with their engage- 
ments ; and the Shawnees have no right to come from a distant country to 
control the Miamies in the disposal of their own property." 

The interpreter delivered this reply ; and the moment he finished, Te- 
cumseh bounded from the earth, and, with the most furious gesticulations, 
cried out, " It is false !" As he uttered this, his band of forty warriors, 
who were present, sprung to their feet, and began to brandish their toma- 
hawks and war-clubs. The governor was attended by only a few unarmed 
citizens, his honorary guard of twelve soldiers having been directed to 
occupy a shady place at a distance. His situation was perilous. Every 
one expected to hear the yell of the savages, and to encounter their fierce 
attack. Governor Harrison immediately rose, and drew his sword — a 
friendly chief cocked a pistol with which he was armed, and some of the 
persons in attendance seized such weapons as were within their reach, and 
stood on the defensive. Not a word was spoken until the guard hastily 
approached, and were about to fire on the Indians, when the governor, with 

* The seventeen States, at ti»t time composing the Union. 



368 HARRISON. 

singular coolness and presence of mind, restrained them. He then tumea 
to Tecumseh, and calmly but authoritatively told him that " he was a bad 
man — that he would hold no further communication with him — and that he 
must now return to his camp, and take his departure from the settlements 
without delay." 

The council immediately broke up, and Tecumseh and his warriors, 
overawed by the calmness and intrepidity of the governor, withdrew to their 
camp. The next morning, the haughty chief, apologizing for his conduct, 
desired a renewal of the council. Governor Harrison consented, taking 
the precaution to have two companies of militia under arms, to protect Vin- 
cennes. The chief, at the succeeding interviews, treated the governor with 
perfect respect, but insisted on the grounds he had before taken — adding 
that he was then on his way to the Creek nation, for the purpose of bring- 
ing them over to his measures ; and he actually did, two days afterwards, 
set out on this journey with twelve or fifteen warriors. 

Anxious if possible to win over the chief to a desire for peace, Governor 
Harrison visited him in his wigwam, but Tecumseh would not abate in his 
demands, and the governor indignantly rejected his offers of wampum in 
atonement for murders committed by his tribe. The governor again re- 
minded him that the President would never accede to his claims upon the 
territory purchased at the treaty of Wayne ; to which the haughty chief 
replied, " Well, as the great chief is to determine the matter, I hope the 
Great Spirit will put sense enough in his head to induce him to direct you 
to give up this land. It is true, he is so far off that he will not be injured 
by the war. He may sit still in his town, and drink his wine, while you 
and I have to fight it out." 

At the winter session of the legislature of Indiana, in 1810, Governor Har- 
rison in his message recapitulates the transactions connected with the treaty 
of Wayne, and alludes to the clamors of foreign agents and disaffected per- 
sons, who had charged that the Indians had been defrauded by that treaty. 
An obscure man, of the name of M'Intosh, openly asserted that the gover- 
nor had cheated the Indians ; and the calumny having been industriously 
circulated, Governor Harrison thought it due to himself and the character 
of the government, that the charge should be fully investigated. An action 
for slander was therefore brought against M'Intosh, in the Supreme Court 
of the territory. All the facts connected with the negotiation of the treaty 
of Fort Wayne were critically inquired into, and the defendant was allow- 
ed every opportunity to examine all the persons engaged in the Indian de- 
partment, or who were acquainted with the circumstances attendant upon 
the making of this treaty. But the more the subject was inquired into, 
the more clearly did it manifest the strict honor and integrity of Governor 
Harrison ; until, at length, convinced of this, the counsel of M'Intosh aban- 
doned all plea of justification, and asked only for a mitigation of damages. 
The jury returned a verdict of four thousand dollars against the defendant 
— a heavy verdict in a new country, where money is always scarce, and 
damages given by juries in such cases are generally very small. A large 
amount of the defendant's property was sold the following year to satisfy 
this judgment, and was bought in by the agent of the governor, while he 
himself was absent in command of the army. Two-thirds of this property 



HARRISON. 369 

Governor Harrison afterwards returned to M'Intosh, and the remainder he 
distributed among the orphan children of some of his gallant fellow-citizens 
who fell in battle during the last war ! 

In the year 1811, the Indians proceeded to open violence. The whole 
frontier was in a state of alarm, and loudly called for the protection of the 
government. President Madison directed the fourth regiment, commanded 
by Colonel Boyd, then stationed at Pittsburgh, to repair without delay to 
Vincennes. Instructions were also sent to Governor Harrison to march 
with an armed force upon the Prophet's town, but to avoid hostilities " of 
any kind, or to any degree not absolutely necessary." The governor im- 
mediately assembled five hundred of the militia and volunteers of Indiana, 
which, with the fourth regiment, consisting of about three hundred and fifty 
men, and a small but gallant body of volunteers from Kentucky, constitu. 
ted his whole available force, amounting to about nine hundred men. 
These troops were collected at Fort Harrison, about sixty miles above 
Vincennes, from which, as soon as the troops were properly disciplined, he 
took up his line of march for the Prophet's town. He left Fort Harrison 
on the 28th October, 1811, and on the evening of the 5th November en- 
camped his army at the distance of nine or ten miles from the Prophet's 
town. On the following day, the march was conducted with the greatest 
caution, to prevent surprise. About mid-day, scouts of the Indians were 
discovered, and the interpreters called to them, but they answered only 
with menacing gestures. Arriving at a favorable spot, within a mile and 
a half from the town, the governor determined to encamp, and fortify his 
position, until he could hear from the friendly Indians whom he had de- 
spatched to the Prophet on the day he left Fort Harrison. Afterwards 
Captain Dubois, of Vincennes, was despatched with an interpreter to the 
Prophet, to ascertain whether he intended to comply with the terms propo- 
sed. The army moved slowly onward, in order of battle. The Indians 
attempted to cut off Captain Dubois. The governor now determined to 
treat them as open enemies, and moved on with a determination to attack 
them. He had not proceeded far, however, before a deputation from the 
Prophet came in, who declared that he wished if possible to avoid hostil- 
ities, and had sent a pacific message in answer to that of the governor, but 
that the messengers had unfortunately missed the army by returning down 
the south side of the Wabash. A suspension of hostilities was agreed 
upon ; but Harrison knew too well the artful treachery of his antagonist 
to be deceived. He posted his troops on a carefully chosen position, about 
three-fourths of a mile from Tippecanoe. The place selected was a dry 
piece of ground, which rose some ten feet above the level of a marshy 
prairie in front towards the town, and about twice as high above a similar 
prairie in the rear ; through which, near the bank, ran a small stream, 
clothed with willows and brushwood. On the left of the encampment, 
this bench of land became wider ; on the right it gradually narrowed, 
and terminated in an abrupt point, about one hundred and fifty yards 
from the right flank. The two columns of infantry occupied the front 
and rear. The right flank, being about eight yards wide, was filled 
with Captain Spencer's company of eighty men. The left flank, about 
one hundred and fifty yards in extent, was composed of three com* 

47 



370 HARRISON. 

panics of mounted riflemen, under General Wells, commanding as 

Major. 

On the night of the 6th of November, (says M'Afee, the historian of this 
battle,) the troops went to rest, as usual, with their clothes and accoutre- 
ments on, and their arms by their sides. The officers were ordered to 
sleep in the same manner, and it was the governor's invariable practice to 
be ready to mount his horse at a moment's warning. On the morning of 
the 7th, he arose at a quarter before four o'clock, and sat by the fire con- 
versing with the gentlemen of his family, who were reclining on their 
blankets waiting for the signal, which in a few minutes would have been 
given, for the troops to turn out. The orderly drum had already been 
roused for the reveille. The moon had risen, but afforded little light, in 
consequence of being overshadowed by clouds, which occasionally dis- 
charged a drizzling rain. At this moment the attack commenced.* 

The treacherous Indians had crept up so near the sentries as to hear 
them challenge when relieved. They intended to rush upon the sentries, 
and kill them before they could fire ; but one of them discovered an Indian 
creeping towards him in the grass, and fired. This was immediately fol- 
lowed by the Indian yell, and a desperate charge upon the left flank. The 
guard in that quarter gave way, and abandoned their officer without making 
any resistance. Captain Barton's company of regulars, and Captain 
Guiger's company of mounted riflemen, forming the left angle of the rear 
line, received the first onset. The fire there was excessive ; but the troops, 
who had lain on their arms, were immediately prepared to receive, and had 
gallantry to resist, the furious savage assailants. 

The manner of the attack was calculated to discourage and terrify the 
men ; yet as soon as they could be formed and posted, they maintained 
their ground with desperate valor, though but few of them had ever before 
been in battle. The fires of the camp were extinguished immediately, as 
the light they afforded was more serviceable to the Indians than to our men.f 

In the mean time, the attacks on Spencer's and Warwick's companies, 
on the right, became very severe. Captain Spencer and his lieutenants 
were all killed, and Captain Warwick was mortally wounded. The gov- 
ernor, in passing towards that flank, found Captain Robb's company near 
the centre of the camp. They had been driven from their post ; or rather 
had fallen back without orders. He led them to the aid of Captain Spen- 
cer, where they fought very bravely, having seventeen men killed during 
the battle. While the governor was leading this company into action, 
Colonel Owen, his aid, was killed at his side. This gallant officer was 

* Upon the first alarm, the governor mounted his horse, and proceeded towards the 
point of attack ; and finding the fine much weakened there, he ordered two companies 
from the centre of the rear hne to march up, and form across the angle in the rear of 
Barton's and Guiger's companies. In passing through the camp towards the left of the 
front line, he met with Major Daviess, who informed him that the Indians, concealed be- 
hind some trees near the line, were annoying the troops very severely in that quarter, 
and requested permission to dislodge them. In attempting this exploit, he fell mortally 
wounded, as did Colonel Isaac White, of Indiana, who acted as a volunteer in his troop. 
— Judge Hall. 

t Except those of Barton's and Guiger's companies, which the suddenness of the at- 
tack left no time to put out. — lb. 



HARRISON, 371 

mounted on a white horse ; and as the governor had ridden a gray on the 
day before, it is probable that Owen was mistaken for him, as it is certain 
that he was killed by one of the only Indians who broke through the lines, 
and who are supposed to have resolved to sacrifice themselves in an atteinpt 
to insure victoiy by killing the commander-in-chief. The governor hap- 
pened not to be mounted on his own gi'ay ; his servant had accidentally 
tied that animal apart from the other horses belonging to the general staff, 
and in the confusion occasioned by the attack, not being able to find this 
horse as quickly as was desirable, the governor mounted another. 

Captain Prescott's company of U. S. infantry had filled up the vacancy 
caused by the retreat of Robb's company. Soon after Daviess was wound- 
ed, Captain Snelling, by order of the governor, charged upon the same 
Indians, and dislodged them with considerable loss. The battle was now 
maintained on all sides with desperate valor. The Indians advanced and 
retreated by a rattling noise made with deer hoofs : they fought with en- 
thusiasm, and seemed determined on victory or death. 

As soon as it was daylight, the companies of Snelling, Posey, Scott, and 
Wilson, were taken from the rear, and formed on the left flank ; and those 
of Cook and Baen were ordered to the right. General Wells was directed 
to command the corps on the left, and with the aid of some dragoons, who 
were now mounted, to charge the enemy in that direction. The service 
was gallantly performed, and the Indians were driven into a swamp, where 
the cavalry could not follow. At the same time. Cook's and Lieutenant 
Larrabe's companies, with the aid of the riflemen and militia on the right 
flank, charged the Indians, and put them to flight in that quarter, which 
terminated the battle. 

The Prophet took no part in this battle, but during the whole of the con- 
test remained secure upon a neighboring eminence, chanting a war-song. 
He had practised the arts of a conjurer, and promised his warriors that 
" the Great Spirit would turn the powder of the whites into ashes, and 
charm their bullets, so that they should drop harmless, and that the red 
men should have light, while their enemies were involved in utter dark- 
ness." Soon after the battle commenced, he was told that his warriors 
were falling in great numbers, but he bade them fight on, and they would 
soon see tl>e fulfilment of all his predictions. 

On the next day, the Prophet's town, which had been hastily abandoned 
by the Indians, was occupied by our troops, who destroyed the fortifica- 
tions, and burnt the town itself. After taking care of the wounded, and 
paying the last mournful rites to the remains of those who had fallen, the 
troops were put in motion on their homeward march to Vincennes. 

The importance of the victory at Tippecanoe has never been over-esti- 
mated. It destroyed the potent influence of the Prophet, and defeated the 
combination among the tribes, which would certainly have followed, had 
our army been overpowered. All the historians of this battle concur in 
rendering to Governor Harrison the meed of praise for his daring intrepid- 
ity and gallant conduct in this hard-fought action. President Madison 
called to it the special attention of Congress, and the legislatures of Indiana 
and Kentucky passed the most flattering enconiums upon the illustrious 
commander. 



372 HARRISON. 

On the 18th June, 1812, war was declared against Great Britain; and 
the whole west, ready to rally to the standard ©f the country, were anxious 
that Governor Harrison should be placed in command. He was accord- 
ingly appointed by the governor of Kentucky a brevet Major-General of 
militia, and placed in command of the gallant volunteers raised for the 
succor of Detroit, and other posts on the frontier. The ignoble surrender 
of Hull defeated the plans of the campaign. Soon after. General Win- 
chester was appointed a Major-General in the army, and Governor Har- 
rison received at the same time the commission of a Bi'igadier-General. 
This appointment he declined, being desirous that the war department 
should be first apprised of the arrangement by which he had been placed 
in command of the Kentucky troops. The appointment of Winchester was 
injudicious, and created great dissatisfaction throughout the west, where 
the people, knowing the merits of Harrison, were desirous that he should 
be placed in command. Governor Harrison, however, endeavored to recon- 
cile the troops to the change. Still their displeasure at having been de- 
prived of their favorite commander was not confined to murmurs, but 
created open disaffection, and almost mutiny. The volunteers, especially, 
were loud in their complaints and expressions of dissatisfaction at the change 
of commanders ; and the troops were at last induced to continue their 
march, solely by the belief that as soon as the case was rightly understood 
at Washington, the command would be restored to Governor Harrison. 

This expectation was speedily realized ; for no sooner was the President 
made aware of the condition of the army, and of the almost unanimous 
wishes of the western people, than he immediately appointed Harrison in 
place of Winchester, commander-in-chief of the north-western army. The 
despatch conveying this appointment overtook him on his way to Indiana ; 
and, with a small escort, he returned, without delay, to the army. 

His arrival was at a fortunate juncture. A revolt had already taken 
place in one of the regiments, and others were disaffected. The appear- 
ance of their beloved commander restored all to order ; and when he ad- 
dressed them, the air rung with their huzzas. From that time, says Judge 
Hall, no troops were more faithful, until the fatal day when most of them 
gave their lives to their country, on the bloody field of Raisin. 

The objects of the present campaign were, to retake Detroit, and expel 
the enemy from the territory of the United States ; to protect our frontiers, 
and reduce Maiden, in Upper Canada. General Harrison drew up his 
plan of operations at the outset. The Rapids of the Miami of the Lakes 
was the point of concentration, from which the principal movement against 
the enemy was to be made. The military base extended from Upper San- 
dusky on the right, to Fort Defiance on the left. 

General Harrison now advised the building of vessels to contend with 
the English upon the lakes. This advice was soon after followed, and 
the wisdom of the suggestion was evinced by repeated naval victories. 

General Winchester had been ordered by the commander-in-chief to 
advance to the Rapids. General Harrison reached Upper Sandusky on 
the 18th December, and Winchester reached the Rapids on the 16th Jan- 
iiary, where he fortified a good position. While here, General Winchester 
received intelligence of the advance of a body of the enemy upon the river 



HARRISON. 373 

Raisin ; and, without consulting General Harrison, made those imprudent 
advances which resulted in the massacre of the river Raisin, and the de- 
feat at Frenchtown. The instant General Harrison was apprised of the 
meditated movements of Winchester, he exerted himself to avert the issue 
which he dreaded, and hastened to Winchester's camp ; but the news of 
the disasters at the Raisin reached him on his arrival at the Rapids. 

After Winchester's defeat, the army fell back upon the Portage, eighteen 
miles, where they remained till the last of January, when they marched 
to the foot of the Rapids. Finding it impracticable to advance upon Mai- 
den this season, General Harrison now had his camp fortified, and gave it 
the name of Camp Meigs. He now repaired to Cincinnati for the purpose 
of urging on vigorous preparations for a spring campaign. He repeated 
his earnest entreaties to the government to place a fleet on the lakes ; and 
to his exertions was it principally owing that the gallant Perry was at 
length sent to Lake Erie to superintend the equipment of a fleet. Hearing 
that the enemy meditated a movement against Camp Meigs, General Har- 
rison hastened back to the camp, where he arrived on the 12th of April . The 
morning of the 28th brought intelligence of the advance of the enemy, and 
soon after the British troops were discovered from the fort, ascending the river 
in vessels and boats, while the Indians, in strong force, were seen approach- 
ing, at the same time, by land. The British disembarked and encamped 
at the old station on the Maumee, nearly two miles below Fort Meigs ; and 
on the night after they landed, they commenced the construction of three 
powerful batteries, on the north side of the river, directly opposite our 
camp. On the morning of the 1st of May, the English artillerists were at 
their guns. Oi'ders were given in the American camp for the tents to be 
struck. In a few minutes the canvass was removed, and nothing was to 
be seen but a long breast-work of earth, behind which the army was se- 
curely encamped. The Americans had erected a grand traverse, twelve 
feet high, running entirely across the camp, upon a base twenty feet broad, 
and three hundred yards long. For five days the enemy threw a continu- 
ous shower of balls, but with very little effect. General Harrison kept up 
a heavy fire in the mean time. 

On learning the approach of a reinforcement under General Clay, Gen- 
eral Harrison promptly decided upon making a bold effort to raise the siege 
by a simultaneous attack upon the enemy's batteries on both sides the river. 
Preparations were at once made for a sortie from the fort, against the Brit- 
ish works on the right bank ; and an officer was despatched to General 
Clay, directing him to land six or eight hundred men about a mile above 
the fort, on the left bank, with orders to march with great secrecy and ra- 
pidity to the assault of the batteries in that quarter, to carry them by storm, 
spike the cannon, and let down the carriages, and then hasten to their boats, 
and cross over to the camp. The sortie from the fort was attended with 
great success. The detachment ordered to this service consisted of three 
hundred and fifty men, a part of whom were regulars, and the remainder 
volunteers and Kentucky militia, under the command of Colonel Miller, of 
the United States army. These brave troops attacked a body of British 
regulars and Indians, of more than double their number ; but the impet- 
uosity of their charge was irresistible, and after a severe struggle, they 



374 HARRISON. 

drove the enemy from the batteries. They spiked the cannon, took a large 
number of prisoners, and having fully accomplished their object, returned 
in triumph to the fort. This sortie was one of the most sanguinary and 
desperate actions fought during the whole war — and its brilliant success 
was richly merited by the intrepid gallantry of the brave troops engaged 
in the enterprise. 

While tins was going on, Dudley had landed on the opposite side of the 
river, charged the enemy's batteries at full speed, and pulled down the 
British flag without loss of a man. General Harrison made signals for 
Dudley and his men to retire, but they loitered about, examining the works. 
Campbell was sent to recall them, but the Indians gathered on their flank, 
and attacked Captain Comb's company. Dudley again charged the foe/ 
and drove them two miles. The enemy now rallying, attacked Major 
Shelby, who liad remained at the batteries. Some of his men were iViade 
prisoners, and others driven to the boats. The major rallied the rest, drove 
back the foe, and hastened to assist Dudley. A retreat was undertaken ; 
but so great was the disorder, that most of Dudley's men were taken pris- 
oners, and many of them tomahawked by the Indians, in presence of the 
British general, Proctor. 

Foiled by the skilful dispositions of Harrison, and by the battle, or rather 
the succession of battles, fought on the fifth. Proctor was compelled to aban- 
don the siege of Fort Meigs ; and on the eighth of May he broke up his 
camp, and retreated in disappointment and disgrace. 

Early in July following this memorable defeat, the Indians again assem- 
bled in the neighborhood of Fort Meigs, to the number of five thousand 
warriors, under Tecumseh. General Harrison now removed his head- 
quarters to Seneca-town, nine miles up the Sandusky river, where he con- 
structed a fortified camp. This was a position from which he could fall 
back for the protection of Fort Meigs ; and his design was, when he could 
concentrate his forces, to make a descent upon the enemy, and raise the 
siege. On the 28th July, however, the enemy, again despairing of suc- 
cess, abandoned the siege — the British troops embarking, and sailing round 
Sandusky bay, while their savage allies marched across the swamps of 
Portage river, to co-operate in a meditated attack upon Fort Stephenson, a 
temporary depot, under command of Major Croghan. The gallant defence 
of this post by Croghan again taught the enemy the strength of American 
valor. After repeated attegppts to take it by assault, the enemy was at 
length forced to abandon the attempt, and retreat in confusion, having lost, 
in killed and wounded, nearly as many as the entire number of men under 
the heroic Croghan. The British now withdrew entirely from our terri- 
tory, and concentrated their strength at Maiden, their principal stronghold 
in Upper Canada. General Harrison did not suffer them long to rest after 
their retreat, but commenced immediate preparations for carrying the war 
into Canada. Our fleet on Lake Erie had been constructed ; and the gal- 
lant Perry, on the 10th September, captured the entire fleet of the enemy. 
General Harrison had just at this time concentrated his forces ; and, on 
the 27th September, the troops embarked at Sandusky bay, and advanced 
towards Maiden, expecting to find the British and Indians encamped there 
in full force. But upon landing on the Canada shore, they found that 



HARRISON. 375 

Proctor, disheartened by his recent defeats, had abandoned that strong- 
hold, after having destroyed the fort and navy-yard, and had retreated with 
his regulars and savage allies to Sandwich. Our army advanced rapidly 
in pursuit of the enemy, who had retreated up the river Thames, to the 
Moravian town. Here was fought the celebrated battle of the Thames. 

On the 5th October, the enemy was overtaken. The British general, 
Proctor, having had his choice of the ground, had selected a strong posi- 
tion. It was flanked on the left by the Thames, and supported by artil- 
lery ; and on the right by two extensive swamps, running nearly parallel 
to the river, and occupied by a strong body of Indians. The British reg- 
ulars were formed in open order, in two extended lines. The Indians were 
commanded by Tecumseh in pei-son. Their left flank was posted on the 
isthmus between the two swamps, and their right extended a considerable 
distance down the principal marsh. 

General Harrison drew up one division of his infantry in a double line 
reaching from the river to the swamp, opposite to Proctor's troops, and the 
other division at right angles to the first, with its front extending along the 
swamp, with a view of preventing the Indians from turning his left flank, 
and attacking him in the rear. Johnson's mounted regiment was placed 
in front of the infantry. 

The American army advanced in order of battle, and the reconnoitring 
parties soon brought in exact intelligence of the dispositions Proctor had 
made. Harrison, with the rapid decision of an able general, saw at once 
the egregious error of his opponent in forming his regular soldiers in ex- 
tended line, and instantly took advantage of it. Aware that troops formed 
in open order could not resist a vigorous charge of cavalry, he immediately 
ordered Colonel Johnson to form his regiment of mounted men, and dash 
through the enemy's line, in close column. This charge was rapidly made, 
and with the most brilliant success. The extended and weakened line of 
the enemy could offer but a feeble resistance to the charge of these gallant 
troops, who dashed through their ranks with overwhelming impetuosity, 
and wheeling to the right and left, began to pour in a destructive fire upon 
their rear. Terrified and overwhelmed by this onset of the Americans, 
the British army in a short time threw down their arms, and were all made 
prisoners, except a few who, with the cowardly Proctor, had fled in the early 
part of the battle. The Indians fought with desperation until their great 
chief Tecumseh was slain by the gallant band of Kentuckians under 
Colonel Johnson, when they fled, leaving the field to the conquerors. This 
brilliant victory, following the capture of the enemy's fleet on the lake, 
entirely destroyed the British force in Upper Canada, and put an end to 
the war on the north-western frontier. 

The news of this glorious victory occasioned universal rejoicings through- 
out the country. President Madison passed a high eulogium upon the 
merits of the commanding general, and the distinguished Langdon Cheves 
remai-ked on the floor of Congress, ihat " the victory of Harrison was such 
as would have secured to a Roman general, in the best days cf the Repub- 
lic, the honors of a triumph." 

On the 7th of October, the different corps of our army commenced their 
return home, having first embarked the greater part of the property they 



376 HARRISON. 

had captured in boats on the Thames, and set fire to the Moravian town, 
a small village occupied chiefly by Delaware Indians, who professed to be 
of the Moravian sect of religion. On the 10th, all the troops arrived with 
their prisoners at Sandwich. 

In the mean time, the Indians had sued for peace, and General Harrison 
had concluded an armistice, until the pleasure of the President could be 
known. 

General John Armstrong having been appointed Secretary of War, for 
some cause never explained to the country, and totally irreconcilable with 
his duty as a patriotic statesman, now changed the direction of affairs in 
the north-west ; and on the 25th April, 1814, appointed a subordinate offi- 
cer to a separate command within the district assigned by the President to 
Major-General Harrison. General Harrison soon after this resigned, and 
retired from the army. President Madison, however, immediately appoint- 
ed him a commissioner to treat with the Indians, in which service he con- 
tinued until 1816, when he was chosen by a large majority representative 
in Congress from Ohio. He continued to serve in the House of Represen- 
tatives of the nation, much to the satisfaction of his constituents, and greatly 
to his own honor, until 1819, when he was chosen- a member of the State 
Senate. In 1824, he was elected a Senator of the United States, and soon 
after taking his seat was appointed chairman of the military committee, in 
place of General Jackson, who had resigned. While serving in this high 
station, he commanded universal respect. 

In 1828, General Harrison was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the 
Republic of Colombia. He lost no time in embarking, and arrived at 
Maracaybo, on the 22d of December, and thence proceeded to Bogota. He 
found every thing in confusion, and Bolivar much inclined to favor the 
military party, which wished to confer upon him a dictatorship. To this 
the more democratic of the people were strongly opposed, and they even- 
tually succeeded in their views. The plain appearance and republican 
manners of the minister led to his being suspected, by a people ever jeal- 
ous, of favoring the democratic party, and subjected him to many petty 
persecutions from the aristocracy, against which he gallantly sustained 
himself. He addressed to General Bolivar his celebrated appeal in favor 
of constitutional liberty, which has often been quoted in North and South 
America. General Jackson succeeding to the Presidency in 1829, Gen- 
eral Harrison was immediately recalled. 

On returning from Colombia, General Harrison retired to the cultivation 
of his fine farm at North Bend, on the banks of the Ohio, about fifteen 
miles below Cincinnati. The frosts of age were gathering around his 
brows ; but the affectiovi of the people, whom he had so long and so gal- 
lantly served, was still surviving fresh and green. In 1836, without any 
general concert, and when there were several candidates in the field against 
Mr. Van Buren, he was taken up by some of the states a short time be- 
fore the election, and received seventy-two electoral votes. This strong 
evidence of an abiding popularity with the people, was not forgotten four 
years later, when another Presidential election was at hand. 

At a full national convention of Whig delegates, assembled at Harris- 
burgh, in Pennsylvania, on the 4th of December, 1839, General Harrison 



.HARRISON. 377 

received tlifi ^ na | [ ^immis nomination of that body as the Whig candidate for 
the Presidency. The friends oi" all the other candidates opposed to the 
existing order of things, and desirous to effect a change of measures in the 
federal administration, cordially united in this nomination ; and after a 
contest more animated and more general than any which ever before occur- 
I'ed, General Harrison was elected to the Presidency by an overwhelming 
vote. He received the suffrages of nineteen states, and a greater majority 
of electoral votes than was ever before given for any President — receiving 
two hundred and thirty-four of the two hundred and ninety-four votes given 
in the twenty-six states. 

General Harrison was now sixty-eight years of age ; and his elevation 
to the Presidency diffused a general joy throughout the nation. He arrived 
at Washington in the month of February, 1841, accompanied by some of 
his former companions in arms and chosen friends, who were to compose 
for the present his household. His immediate family remained in Ohio, 
with the purpose of following in the ensuing summer. The inauguration 
of President Harrison, on the 4th March, 1841, was attended by a multi- 
tude of the people, greater than ever before assembled at Washington, and 
he pronounced his address in a clear -and distinct voice, which was heard 
by many thousands of his countrymen assembled in front of the eastern, 
portico of the Capitol. The address follows : ^ 

Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the residue of my 
life, to fill the chief executive office of this great and free nation, I appear before you, 
fellow-citizens, to take the oaths which the constitution prescribes as a necessary qual- 
ification for the performance of its duties. And in obedience to a custom coeval with 
our government, and what I believe to be your expectations, I proceed to present to you 
a summary of the principles which will govern me in the discharge of the duties which I 
shall be called upon to perform. 

It was the remark of a Roman consul, in an early period of that celebrated republic, 
that a most striking contrast was observable in the conduct of candidates for offices of 
power and trust, before and after obtaining them — they seldom carrying out in the latter 
case the pledges and promises made in the former. However much the world may have 
improved, in many respects, in the lapse of upwards of two thousand years since the 
remark was made by the virtuous and indignant Roman, I fear that a strict examination 
of the annals of some of the modern elective governments would develope similar in- 
stances of violated confidence. 

Although the fiat of the people has gone forth, proclaiming me the chief magistrate of 
this glorious Union, nothing upon their part remaining to be done, it may be thought that 
a motive may exist to keep up the delusion under which they may be supposed to have 
acted in relation to my principles and opinions ; and perhaps there may be some in this 
assembly who have come here either prepared to condemn ( hose I shall now deliver, or, 
approving them, to doubt the since rity with which they are uttered. But the lapse of a 
few months will confirm or dispel their fears. The outline of principles to govern, and 
measures to be adopted by an administration not yet begun, will soon be exchanged for 
immutable history ; and I shall stand, either exonerated by my countrymen, or classed 
with the mass of those who promised that thi>y might deceive, and flattered with the in- 
tention to betray. 

However strong may be my present purpose to realize the expectations of a magnani- 
mous and confiding people, I too well understand the infirmities of human nature, and 
the dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed, from the magnitude of the power 
which it has been the will of the people to commit to my hands, not to place my chief 
confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto protected me, and 
enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important but still greatly inferior trusts, 
heretofore confided to me by my country. 

48 



i/ 



378 HARRISON. 

The broad foundation upon which our constitution rests being the people — a breath of 
theirs having made, as a breath can unmake, change, or modify it — it can be assigned to 
none of the great divisions of government but to that of deniocracv. If such is its theory 
those who are called upon to administer it must recognise, as its leading principle, the 
duly of shaping their measures so as to produce the greatest good to the greatest number. 
But, with these broad admissions, if we could compare the sovereignty acknowledged to 
exist in the mass of the people with the power claimed by other sovereignties, even by 
those which have been considered most purely democratic, we shall find a most essential 
difference. All others lay claim to power limited only by their own will. The majority 
of our citizens, on the contrary, possess a sovereignty with an amount of power precisely 
equal to that which has been granted to them by the parties to the national compact, and 
nothing beyond. We admit of no government by divine right ; believing that, so far as 
power is concerned, the beneficent Creator has made no distinction amongst men — that 
all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant 
of power from the governed. The constitution of the United States is the instrument 
containing the grant of power to the several departments composing the government. On 
an examination of that instrument, it will be found to contain declarations of power grant- 
ed, and of power withheld. The .latter is also susceptible of division into power which 
the majority had the right to grant, but which they did not think proper to intrust to their 
agents, and that which they could not have granted, not being possessed by themselves. 
in other words, there are certain rights possessed by each individual American citizen, 
which, in his compact with the others, he has never surrendered. Some of them, indeed, 
he is unable to surrender, being, in the language of our system, inalienable. 

The boasted privilege of a Roman citizen was to him a shield only against a petty 
provincial ruler, whilst the proud democrat of Athens could console himself under a sen- 
tence of death for » supposed violation of the national faith, which no one understood, 
and which at times was the subject of the mockery of all, or of banishment from his 
home, his family, and his country, with or without an -alleged cause, that it was the act 
not of a single tyrant, or hated aristocracy, but of his assembled countrymen. Far dif- 
ferent is the power of our sovereignty. It can interfere with no one's faith, prescribe 
forms of worship for no one's observance, inflict no punishment but after well-ascertained 
guilt, the result of investigation under forms prescribed by the constitution itself. These 
precious privileges, and those scarcely less important of giving expression to his thoughts 
and opinions, either by writing or speaking, unrestrained but by the liability for injury to 
others, and that of a full participation in all the advantages which flow from the govern, 
ment, the acknowledged property of all, the American citizen derives from no charter 
granted from his fellow-man. He claims them because he is himself a man, fashioned by 
the same Almighty hand as the rest of his species, and entitled to a full share of the 
blessings with which he has endowed them. 

Notwithstanding the limited sovereignty possessed by the people of the United States, 
and the restricted grant of power to the government which they have adopted, enough 
has been given to accomplish all the objects for which it was created. It has been found 
powerful in war, and hitherto justice has been administered, an intimate union effected, 
domestic tranquillity preserved, and personal liberty secured to the citizen. As was to 
be expected, however, from the defect of language, and the necessarily sententious man- 
ner in which the constitution is written, disputes have arisen as to the amount of power 
which it has actually granted, or was intended to grant. This is more particularly the case 
in relation to that part of the instrument which treats of the legislative branch. And not 
only as regards the exercise of powers claimed under a general clause, giving that body the 
authority to pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the specified powers, but in relation 
to the latter also. It is, however, consolatory to reflect that most of the instances of alleged 
departure from the letter or spirit of the constitution have ultimately received the sanction 
of a majority of the people. And the fact that many of our statesmen, most distinguish- 
ed for talent and patriotism, have been, at one time or other of their political career, on 
both sides of each of the most warmly disputed questions, forces upon us the inference 
iiat the errors, if errors there were, are attributable to the intrinsic difficulty, in many 
instances, of ascertaining the intentions of the framers of the constitution, ratlier than 
the influence of any sinister or unpatriotic motive. 

But the great danger to our institutions does not appear to me to be in a usurpation, by 
the government, of power not granted by the people, but by the accumulation, in oue of 



HARRISON. 379 

the departments, of that which was assigned to others. Limited as are the powers which 
have been granted, still enough have been granted to constitute a despotism, if concen- 
trated in one of the departments. This danger is greatly heightened, as it has always 
been observable that men are less jealous of encroachments of one department upon an- 
other, than upon their own reserved rights. 

When the constitution of the United States first came from the hands of the conven. 
tion which formed it, many of the sternest republicans of the day were alarmed at the 
extent of the power which had been granted to the federal government, and more partic- 
ularly of that portion which had been assigned to the executive branch. There were in 
it features which appeared not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple representa- 
tive democracy, or republic. And knowing the tendency of power to increase itself, 
particularly when executed by a single individual, predictions were made that, at no very 
remote period, the government would terminate in virtual monarchy. It would not be- 
come me to say that the fears of these patriots have been already realized. But, as I 
sincerely believe that the tendency of measures, and of men's opinions, for some years 
past, has been in that direction, it is, I conceive, strictly proper that I should take this 
occasion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore given, of mi' determination to arrest 
the progress of that tendency, if it really exists, and restore the government to its pristine 
health and vigor, as far as this can be effected by any legitimate exercise of the power 
placed in my hands. 

I proceed to state, in as summary a manner as I can, my opinion of the sources of the 
evils which have been so extensively complained of, and the correctives which may be 
applied. Some of the former are unquestionably to be found in the defects of the con- 
stitution ; others, in my judgment, are attributable to misconstruction of some of its pro- 
visions. Of the former is the eligibility of the same individual to a second term of the 
presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson early saw and lamented this error ; 
and attempts have been made, hitherto without success, to apply the amendatory power 
of the states to its correction. 

As, however, one mode of correction is in the power of every President, and conse- 
quently in mine, it would be useless, and perhaps invidious, to enumerate the evils of 
which, in the opinion of many of our fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed 
the constitution may have been the source, and the bitter fruits which we are still to 
gather from it if it continues to disfigure our system. It may be observed, however, as a 
general remark, that republics can commit no greater error than to adopt or continue any 
feature in their systems of government which may be calculated to create or increase the 
love of power in the bosoms of those to whom necessity obliges them to commit the 
management of their affairs. And surely nothing is more likely to produce such a state 
of mind than the long continuance of an office of high trust. Nothing can be more cor- 
rupting, notning more destructive of all those noble feelings which belong to the charac- 
ter of a devoted republican patriot. When this corrupting passion once takes possession 
of the human mind, like the love of gold, it becomes insatiable. It is the never-dying 
worm in his bosom, grows with his growth, and strengthens with the declining years of 
its victim. If this is true, it is the part of wisdom for a republic to limit the service of 
that officer, at least, to whom she has intrusted the management of her foreign relations, 
the execution of her laws, and the command of her armies and navies, to a period so 
short as to prevent his forgetting tnat he is the accountable agent, not the principal — the 
servant, not the master. Until an amendment of the constitution can be effected, pubUc 
opinion may secure the desired object. I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge here- 
tofore given, that, under no circumstances, will I consent to serve a second term. 

But if there is danger to public libferty from the acknowledged defects of the constitu- 
tion, in the want of limit to the continuance of the executive power in the same hands, 
there is, I apprehend, not much less from a misconstruction of that instrument, as it 
regards the powers actually given. I cannot conceive that, by a fair construction, any or 
either of its provisions would be found to constitute the President a part of the legisla- 
tive power. It cannot be claimed from the power to recommend, since, although enjoined 
as a duty upon him, it is a privilege which he holds in common with every other cit- 
izen. And although there may be something more of confidence in the propriety of 
the measures recommended in the one case than in the other, in the obligations of ulti- 
mate decision there can be no difference. In the language of the constitution, " all 
the legislative powers" which it grants " are vested in the Congress of the United States." 



380 HARRISON. 

It would be a solecism in language to say that any portion of these is not included in the 
whole. 

It may be said, indeed, that the constitution has given to the executive the power to 
annul the acts of the legislative body by refusing to them his assent. So a similar power 
has necessarily resulted from that instrument to the judiciary ; and yet the judiciary forms 
no part of the legislature. There is, it is true, this difference between these grants of 
power : the executive can put his negative upon the acts of the legislature, for other 
cause than that of want of conformity to the constitution, whilst the judiciary can only 
declare void those which violate that instrument. But the decision of the judiciary is 
final in such a case ; whereas, in every instance where the veto of the executive is ap- 
phed, it tnay be overcome by a vote of two.thirds of both Houses of Congress. The 
negative upon the acts of the legislative, by the executive authority, and that in the hands 
of one individual, would seem to be an incongruity in our system. Like some others of 
a similar character, however, it appears to be highly expedient ; and if used only with the 
forbearance and in the spirit which was intended by its authors, it may be productive of 
great good, and be found one of the best safeguards to the Union. 

At the period of the formation of the constitution, the principle does not appear to 
have enjoyed much favor in the state governments. It existed but in two, and in one of 
these there was a plural executive. If we would search for the motives which operated 
upon the purely patriotic and enlightened assembly which framed the constitution, for the 
adoption of a provision so apparently repugnant to ihe leading democratic principle, that 
the majority should govern, we must reject the idea that they anticipated from it any ben. 
efit to the ordinary course of legislation. They knew too well the high degree of intel- 
ligence which existed among the people, and the enlightened character of the state 
legislatures, not to have the fullest confidence that the two bodies elected by them would 
be worthy representatives of such constituents, and, of course, that they would require no 
aid in conceiving and maturing the measures which the circumstances of the country 
might require. And it is preposterous to suppose that a thought could for a moment have 
been entertained that the President, placed at the capital, in the centre of the country, 
could better understand the wants and wishes of the people than their own immediate 
representatives, who spend a part of every year among them, living with them, often 
laboring with them, and bound to them by the triple tie of interest, duty, and affection. 
To assist or control Congress, then, in its ordinary legislation, could not, I conceive, have 
been the motive for conferring the veto power on the President. This argument acquires 
additional force from. ihe fact of its never having been thus used by the first six Presi- 
dents, — and two of them were members of the convention, one presiding over its delib- 
erations, and the other having a larger share in consummating the labors of that august 
body than any other person. But if bills were never returned to Congress by either of 
the Presidents above referred to; upon the ground of their being inexpedient, or not as 
well adapted as they might be to the wants of the people, the veto was applied upon that 
of want of conformity to the constitution, or because errors had been committed from a 
too hasty enactment. 

There is another ground for the adoption of the veto principle which had probably more 
influence in recommending it to the convention than any other. I refer to the security 
which it gives to the just and equitable action of the legislature upon all parts of the 
Union. It could not but have occurred to the convention that, in a country so extensive, 
embracing so great a variety of soil and climate, and consequently of products, and which, 
from the same causes, must ever exhibit a great difference in the amount of the popula- 
tion of its various sections, calling for a great diversity in the employments of the people, 
that the legislation of the majority might not always justly regard the rights and interests 
of the minority ; and acts of this character might be passed, under an express grant by 
the words of the constitution, and, therefore, not within the competency of the judiciary 
to declare void ; that however enlightened and patriotic they might suppose, from past 
experience, the members of Congress might be, and however largely partaking, in gen- 
eral, of the liberal feelings of the people, it was impossible to expect that bodies so con- 
stituted should not sometimes be controlled by local interests and sectional feelings. It 
was proper, therefore, to provide some umpire, from whose situation and mode of appoint, 
ment more independence and freedom from such influences might be expected. Such a 
one was afforded by the executive department, constituted by the constitution. A person 
elected to that high office, having his constituents in every section, state, and subdivision 



HARRISON. 381 

of the Union, must consider himseif bound, by the most solemn sanctions, to guard, pro- 
tect, and defend the rights of all, and of every portion, great or small, from the injustice 
and oppression of the rest. I consider the veto power, therefore, given by the constitu- 
tion to the executive of the United States, solely as a conservative power : to be used 
only, 1st, to protect the constitution from violation ; 2dly, the people from the effects of 
hasty legislation, where their will has been probably disregarded or not well understood ; 
and, 3dly, to prevent the effects of combinations violative of the rights of the minorities. 
In reference to the second of these objects, I may observe that I consider it the right and 
privilege of the people to decide disputed points of the constitution, arising from the gen- 
eral grant of power to Congress to carry into effect the powers expressly given. And I 
believe, with Mr. Madison, " that repeated recognitions under various circumstances, in 
acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government, accompanied 
by indications in different modes of the concurrence of the general will of the nation, 
afford to the President sufficient authority for his considering such disputed point as 
settled." 

Upwards of half a century has elapsed since the adoption of our present form of gov- 
ernment. It would be an object more highly desirable than the gratification of the curi- 
osity of speculative statesmen, if its precise situation could be ascertained, a fair exhibit 
made of the operations of each of its departments, of the powers which they respectively 
claim and exercise, of the collisions which have occurred between them, or between the 
whole government and those of the states, or either of them. We could then compare 
our actual condition, after fifty years' trial of our system, with what it was in the com- 
mencement of its operations, and ascertain whether the predictions of the patriots who 
opposed its adoption, or the confident hopes of its advocates, have been best realized. 
The great dread of the former seems to have been, that the reserved powers of the states 
would be absorbed by those of the federal government, and a consolidated power estab- 
lished, leaving to the states the shadow only of that independent action for which they 
had so zealously contended, and on the preservation of which they relied as the last hope 
of liberty. Without denying that the result to which they looked with so much appre- 
hension is in the way of being realized, it is obvious that they did not clearly see the 
mode of its accomplishment. The general government has seized upon none of the 
reserved rights of the states. As far as any open warfare may have gone, the state 
authorities have amply maintained their rights. To a casual observer, our system pre- 
sents no appearance of discord between the different members which compose it. Even 
the addition of many new ones has produced no jarring. They move in their respective 
orbits in perfect harmony with the central head, and with each other. But there is still 
an under current at work, by which, if not seasonably checked, the worst apprehensions 
of our anti-federal patriots will be realized. And not only will the state authorities be 
overshadowed by the great increase of power in the executive department of the general 
government, but the character of that government, if not its designation, be essentially 
and radically changed. This state of things has been in part effected by causes inherent 
in the constitution, and in part by the never-faihng tendency of political power to increase 
itself. 

By making the President the sole distributer of all the patronage of the government, the 
framers of the constitution do not appear to have anticipated at how short a period it 
would become a formidable instrument to control the fi-ee operations of the state govern- 
ments. Of trifling importance at first, it had, early in Mr. .Jefferson's administration, be- 
come so powerful as to create great alarm in the mind of that patriot, fi'om the potent 
influence it might exert in controlling the freedom of the elective franchise. If such 
could have then been the effects of its influence, how much greater must be the danger 
at this time, quadrupled in amount, as it certainly is, and more completely under the con- 
trol of the executive will, than their construction of their powers allowed, or the forbear- 
ing characters of all the early Presidents permitted them to make ? But it is not by the 
extent of its patronage alone that the executive department has become dangerous, but 
by the use which it appears may be made of the appointing power, to bring under its 
control the whole revenues of the country. The constitution has declared it to be the duty 
of the President to see that the laws are executed ; and it makes him the commander-in- 
chief of the armies and navy of the United States. If the opinion of the most approved 
writers upon that species of mixed government, which, in modern Europe, is termed mori' 
archy, in contradistinction to despotism, is correct, there was wanting no other addition 



382 HARRISON. 

to the powers of our chief magistrate to stamp a monarchical character on our govern- 
ment, but the control of the public finances. And to me it appears strange indeed, thai 
any one should doubt that the entire control which the President possesses over the 
officers who have the custody of the public money, by the power of removal with or 
without cause, does, for all mischievous purposes at least, virtually subject the treasure 
also to his disposal. 

The first Roman emperor, in his attempt to seize the sacred treasure, silenced the 
opposition of the officer to whose charge it had been committed, by a significant allusion 
to his sword. By a selection of political instruments for the care of the public money, a 
reference to their commissions by a President would be quite as effectual an argument as 
that of Caesar to the Roman knight. I am not insensible of the great difficulty that 
exists in devising a proper plan for the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public rev- 
enues, and I know the importance which has been attached by men of great abilities and 
patriotism to the divorce, as it is called, of the treasury from the banking institutions. It 
is not the divorce which is complained of, but the unhallowed union of the treasury with 
the executive department, which has created such extensive alarm. To this danger to 
our republican institutions, and that created by the influence given to the executive through 
die instrumentality of the federal officers, I propose to apply all the remedies which may 
be at my command. It was certainly a great error in the framers of the constitution not 
tc have made the officer at the head of the treasury department entirely independent of 
the executive. He should at least have been removable only upon the demand of the 
popular branch of the legislature. I have determined never to remove a secretary of the 
treasury without communicating all the circumstances attending such removal to both 
Houses of Congress. The influence of the executive in controlling the freedom of the 
ilective franchise through the medium of the public officers, can be effectually checked 
Sy renewing the prohibition published by Mr. Jefferson, forbidding their interference in 
jlections, farther than giving their own votes ; and their own independence secured by 
m assurance of perfect immunity in exercising this sacred privilege of freemen under the 
lictates of their own unbiased judgments. Never, with my consent, shall an officer of 
he people, compensated for his services out of their pockets, become the pliant instnunent 
li' executive will. 

There is no part of the means placed in the h^ds of the executive, which might be 
ased with greater effect, for unhallowed purposes, than the control of the public press. 
The maxim which our ancestors derived from the mother country, that " the freedom of 
.he press is the great bulwark of civil and religious liberty," is one of the most precious 
egacies which they have left us. We have learned, too, from our own, as well as the 
;xperience of other countries, that golden shackles, by whomsoever or by whatever pre- 
ance imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of despotism. The presses in the 
.ecessary employment of the government should never be used " to clear the guilty, or 
J varnish crimes." A decent and manly examination of the acts of the government 
aould be not only tolerated, but encouraged. 

Upon another occasion I hatfe given my opinion, at some length, upon the impropriety 
if executive interference in the legislation of Congress : that the article in the consti- 
ition making it the duty of the President to communicate information, and authorizing 
in to recommend measures, was not intended to make him the source of legislation, 
id, in particular, that he should never be looked to for schemes of finance. It would 
3 very strange, indeed, that the constitution should have strictly forbidden one branch 
;' the legislature from interfering in the origination of such bills, and that it should be 
jiisidered proper that an altogether different department of the government should be 
ermitted to do so. 
Some of our best political maxims and opinions have been drawn from our parent 
le. There are others, however, which cannot be introduced in our system without 
lingular incongruity, and the production of much mischief. And this I conceive to be 
me. No matter in which of the Houses of Parliament a bill may originate, nor by 
vhom introduced, a minister, or a member of the opposition, by the fiction of law, or 
rather of constitutional principle, the sovereign is supposed to have prepared it agreeably 
to his will, and then submitted it to Parliament for tli^ir advice and consent. Now, the 
very reverse is the case here, not only with regard to the principle, but the forms pre- 
scribed by the constitution. The principle certainly assigns to the only body constituted 
by the constitution (the legislative body) the power to make laws, and the forms even 



HARRISON. 383 

direct that the enactment should be ascribed to them. The Senate, in relation to revenue 
bills, have the right to propose amendments ; and so has the executive, by the power 
given him to return them to the House of Representatives, with his objections. It is in 
his power, also, to propose amendments in the existing laws, suggested by his cbserva- 
tions upon their defective or injurious operation. But the delicate duty of devising schemes 
of revenue should be left where the constitution has placed it — with the immediate rep. 
resentatives of the people. For similar reasons, the mode of keeping the public treasure 
should be prescribed by them ; and the farther it may be removed from the control of the 
executive, the more wholesome the arrangement, and the more in accordance with re. 
publican principle. 

Connected with this subject is the character of the currency. The idea of making it 
exclusively metallic, however well intended, appears to me to be fraught with more fatal 
consequences than any other scheme, having no relation to the personal rights of the 
citizen, that has ever been devised. If any single scheme could produce the effect of 
arresting, at once, that mutation of condition by which thousands of our most indigent 
fellow.citizens, by their industry and enterprise, are raised to the possession of wealth, 
that is the one. If there is one measure better calculated than another to produce that 
state of things so much deprecated by all true republicans, by which the rich are daily 
adding to their hoards, and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metal. 
He currency. Or if there is a process by which the character of the country for generos. 
ity and nobleness of feeling may be destroyed by the great increase and necessary tol. 
eration of usury, it is an exclusive metallic currency. 

Amongst the other duties of a delicate character which the President is called upon to 
perform, is the supervision of the government of the territories of the United States. 
Those of them which are destined to become members of our great political family, are 
compensated by their rapid progress from infancy to manhood, for the partial and tem- 
porary deprivation of their political rights. It is in this district only where American 
citizens are to be found, who, under a settled system of policy, are deprived of many im. 
portant political privileges, without any inspiring hope as to the future. Their only con- 
solation, under circumstances of such deprivation, is that of the devoted exterior guards 
of a camp — that their sufferings secure tranquillity and safety within. 

Are there any of their countrymen who would subject them to greater sacrifices — to 
any other humiliations than those essentially necessary to the security of the object for 
which they were thus separated from their fellow-citizens ? Ai-e their rights alone not to 
be guarantied by the application of those great principles upon which all our constitutions 
are founded ? We are told by the greatest of British orators and statesmen, that, at the 
commencement of the war of the Revolution, the most stupid men in England spoke of 
" their American subjects." Are t ere, indeed, citizens of any of our states who have 
dreamed of their subjects in the District of Columbia ? Such dreams can never be 
reahzed by any agency of mine. 

The people of the District of Columbia are not the subjects of the people of the states, 
but free American citizens. Being in the latter condition when the constitution was 
formed, no words used in that instrument could have been intended to deprive them of 
that character. If there is any thing in the great principles of inahenable rights, so em- 
phatically insisted upon in our Declaration of Independence, they could neither make, 
nor the United States accept, a surrender of their liberties, and become the subjects, in 
other words, the slaves, of their former fellow-citizens. If this be true, and it will scarcely 
be denied by any one who has a correct idea of his own rights as an American citizen, 
the grant to Congress of exclusive jurisdiction in the District of Columbia can be inter- 
preted, so far as respects the aggregate people of the United States, as meaning nothing 
more than to allow to Congress the controlling power necessary to affoid a free and safe 
exercise of the functions assigned to the general government by the constitution. In all 
other respects, the legislation of Congress should be adapted to their peculiar posidon 
and wants, and be conformable with their deliberate opinions of their own interests. 

I have spoken of the necessity of keeping the respective departments of the government, 
as well as all the other authorities of our country, within their appropriate orbits. This 
is a matter of difficulty in some cases, as the powers which they respectively chiim are 
not defined by very distinct lines. Mischievous, however, in their tendencies, as colli, 
sions of this kind may be, those which arise between the respective communities, wliich 
for certain purposes compose one nation, are much more so ; for no such nation can long 



384 HARRISON. 

exist without the careful culture of those feelings of confidence and aflfection which are 
the effective bonds of union between free and confederate states. Strong as is the tie 
of interest, it has been often found ineffectual. Men, bUnded by their passions, have 
been known to adopt measures for their country in direct opposition to all the suggestions 
of policy. The alternative, then, is to destroy or keep down a bad passion by creating 
and fostering a good one ; and this seems to be the corner-stone upon which our Amer- 
ican political architects have reared the fabric of our government. The cement which 
was to bind it, and perpetuate its existence, was the affectionate attachment between all 
its members. To insure the continuance of this feeling, produced at first by a commu- 
nity of dangers, of sufferings, and of interests, the advantages of each were made acces- 
sible to all. 

No participation in any good, possessed by any member of an extensive confederacy, 
except in domestic government, was withheld from the citizen of any other member. By 
a process attended with no difficulty, no delay, no expense but that of removal, the cit- 
izen of one might become the citizen of any other, and successively of the whole. The 
lines, too, separating powers to be exercised by the citizens of one state from those of 
another, seem to be so distinctly drawn as to leave no room for misunderstanding. The 
citizens of each state unite in their persons all the privileges which that character confers, 
and all that they might claim as citizens of the United States ; but in no case can the 
same person, at the same time, act as the citizen of two separate states, and he is there- 
fore fositively p-ecluded from any interference with the reserved powers of any state but 
that of which he is, for the <me being, a citizen. He may indeed offer to the citizens 
of other states his advice as to their management, and the form in which it is tendered is 
l&ft to his own discretion and sense of propriety. 

It may be observed, however, that organized associations of citizens, requiring com- 
phance with their wishes, too much resemble the recommendations of Athens to her allies, 
supported by an armed and powerful fleet. It was, indeed, to the ambition of the leading 
states of Greece to control the domestic concerns of the others, that the destruction of 
that celebrated confederacy, and subsequently of all its members, is mainly to be attrib 
uted. And it is owing to the absence of that spirit that the Helvetic confederacy has for 
so many years been preserved. Never have there been seen in the institutions of the 
separate members of any confederacy more elements of discord. In the principles and 
forms of government and religion, as well as in the circumstances of the several cantons, 
so marked a discrepancy was observable, as to promise any thing but harmony in their 
intercourse, or permanency in their alliance. And yet, for ages, neither has been inter- 
rupted. Content with the positive benefits which their union produced, with the inde- 
pendence and safety from foreign aggression which it secured, the sagacious people 
respected the institutions of each other, however repugnant to their own principles and 
prejudices. 

Our confederacy, fellow.citizens, can only be preserved by the same forbearance. Our 
citizens must be content with the exercise of the powers with which the constitution 
clothes them. The attempt of those of one state to control the domestic institutions of 
another, can only result in feelings of distrust and jealousy, and certain harbingers of 
disunion, violence, civil war, and the ultimate destruction of our free institutions. Our 
confederacy is perfectly illustrated by the terms and principles governing a common co- 
partnership. There a fund of power is to be exercised under the direction of the joint 
counsels of the allied members, but that which has been reserved by the individuals is 
intangible by the common government, or the individual members composing it. To 
attempt it, finds no support in the principles of our constitution. It should be our con- 
stant and earnest endeavor mutually to cultivate a spirit of concord and harmony among 
the various parts of our confederacy. Experience has abundantly taught us that the agi. 
tation by citizens of one part of the Union of a subject not confided to the general gov- 
ernment, but exclusively under the guardianship of the local authorities, is productive of 
no other consequences than bitterness, alienation, discord and injury to the very cause 
which is intended to be advanced. Of all the great interests which appertain to our coun- 
try, that of union, cordial, confiding, fraternal union, is by far the most important, since 
it is the only true and sure guarantee of all others. 

In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the currency, some of the 
states may meet with difficulty in their financial concerns. However deeply we may 
regret any thing imprudent or excessive in the engagements into which states have enter 



HARRISON. S85 

ed for purposes of their own, it does not become us to disparage the state governments, 
nor to discourage them from making proper efforts for their own rehef. On the contrary, 
it is our duty to encourage them, to the extent of our constitutional authority, to apply 
their best means, and cheerfully to make all necessary sacrifices, and submit to all neces. 
sary burdens, to fulfil their engagements and maintain their credit ; for the character and 
credit of the several states form part of the character and credit of the whole country. 
The resources of the country are abundant, the enterprise and activity of our people pro- 
verbial ; and we may well hope that wise legislation and prudent administration, by the 
respective governments, each acting within its own sphere, will restore former prosperity. 

Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes be, between the consti- 
tuted authorities or the citizens of our country, in relation to the lines which separate tiieir 
respective jurisdictions, the result can be of no vital injury to our institutions, if that 
ardent patriotism, that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of moderation and for- 
bearance for which our countrymen were once distinguished, continue to be cherished. 
If this continues to be the ruling passion of our souls, the weaker feelings of the mistaken 
enthusiast will be corrected, the Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, 
and the comphcated intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of liberty 
is the sovereign balm for every injury which our institutions receive. On the contrary, 
no care that can be used in the construction of our government, no division of powers, 
no distribution of checks in its several departments, will prove effectual to keep us a free 
people, if this spirit is suffered to decay ; and decay it will, without constant nurture. 
To the neglect of this duty, historians agree in attributing the ruin of all the republics 
with whose existence and fall their writings have made us acquainted. The same causes 
will ever produce the same effects ; and as long as the love of power is a dominant pas- 
sion of the human bosom, and as long as the understandings of men can be warped, and 
iheir affections changed by operations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will the 
iberty of a people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation. 

The danger to all well-established free governments arises from the unwillingness of 
the people to believe in its existence, or from the influence of designing men, diverting 
their attention from the quarter whence it approaches to a source from which it can never 
come. This is the old trick of those who would usurp the government of their country. 
In the name of democracy they speak, warning the people against the influence of wealth 
and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient and modern, is full of such examples. 
Caesar became the master of the Roman people and the Senate, under the pretence of 
supporting the democratic claims of the former against the aristocracy of the latter • 
Cromwell, in the character of protector of the liberties of the people, became the dic- 
tator of England ; and Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited power, with the title of 
his country's liberator. There is, on the contrary, no single instance on record of an 
extensive and well-established republic being changed into an aristocracy. The tendency 
of all such governments, in their decline, is to monarchy ; and the antagonist principle to 
liberty there, is the spirit of faction — a spirit which assumes the character, and, in times 
of great excitement, imposes itself upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and 
like the false Christs whose coming was foretold by the Saviour, seeks to, and, were it 
possible, would, impose upon the true and most faithful disciples of liberty. It is in pe- 
riods like this that it behooves the people to be most watchful of those to whom they 
have intrusted power. And although there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing 
the false from the true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation will detect the coun- 
terfeit, as well by the character of its operations as the results that are produced. The 
true spirit of Uberty, although devoted, persevering, bold, and uncompromising in princi- 
ple, that secured, is mild and tolerant, and scrupulous as to the means it employs ; whilst 
the spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive, and intolerant, and 
totally reckless as to the character of the allies which it brings to the aid of its cause. 
When the genuine spirit of liberty animates the body of a people to a thorough exam, 
(nation of thei;- affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which may have 
fastened itself upon any of the departments of the government, and restores the system 
to its pristine health and beauty. But the reign of an intolerant spirit of party among a 
free people seldom fails to result in a dangerous accession to the executive power, intro- 
duced and estabhshed amidst unusual professions of devotion to democracy. 

The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters connected with our domes- 
tic concerns. It may be proper, however, that I should give some indications to my fel. 

49 



386 HARRISON. 

low-citizens of my proposed course of conduct in the management of our foreign rela. 
tions. I assure them, therefore, that it is my intention to use every means in my power 
to preserve the friendly intercourse which now so happily subsists with every foreign 
nation ; and that although, of course, not well informed as to the state of any pending 
negotiations with any of them, I see in the personal characters of the sovereigns, as well 
as in the mutual interest of our own and of the governments with which our relations 
are most intimate, a pleasing guarantee that the harmony so important to the interests of 
their subjects, as well as our citizens, will not be interrupted by the advancement of any 
claim or pretension upon their part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. 
Long the defender of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens will 
not see, in my earnest desire to preserve peace with foreign powers, any indication that 
their rights will ever be sacrificed, or the honor of the nation tarnished, by any admission 
on the part of their chief magistrate unworthy of their former glory. 

In our intercourse with our aboriginal neighbors, the same liberality and justice which 
marked the course prescribed to me, by two of my illustrious predecessors, when acting 
under their direction in the discharge of the duties of superintendent and commissioner, 
shall be strictly observed. I can conceive of no more sublime spectacle — none more 
likely to propitiate an impartial Creator — than a rigid adherence to the principles of jus- 
tice on the part of a powerful nation, in its transactions with a weaker and uncivilized 
people, whom circumstances have placed at its disposal. 

Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say something to you on the subject of the 
parties at this time existing in our country. To me it appears perfectly clear, that the 
interest of that country requires that the violence of the spirit by which those parties are 
at this time governed, must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished, or conse- 
quences will ensue which are appalhng to be thought of. If parties in a republic are 
necessary to secure a degree of vigilance sufficient to keep the public functionaries within 
the bounds of law and duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they become 
destructive of public virtue, the parents of a spirit antagonist to that of liberty, and even- 
tually its inevitable conqueror. 

We have examples of republics, where the love of country and of liberty, at one time, 
were the dominant passions of the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the continuance 
of the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of these qualities remaining in 
the bosom of any one of its citizens. It was the beautiful remark of a distinguished Eng- 
lish writer, that " in the Roman senate Octaviushad a party, and Antony a party, but the 
commonwealth had none." Yet the senate continued to meet in the temple of liberty, 
to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the commonwealth, and gaze at the statues of the 
elder Brutus and of the Curtii and Decii. And the people assembled in the forum, not 
as in the days of Camillus and the Scipios, to cast their free votes for annual magistrates, 
or pass upon the acts of the senate, but to receive from the hands of the leaders of the 
respective parties their share of the spoils, and to shout for one or the other, as those col- 
lected in Gaul, or Egypt, and the Lesser Asia, would furnish the larger dividend. The 
spirit of liberty had fled, and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protec- 
tion in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia ; and so, under the operation of the same 
causes and influences, it will fly from our capitol and our forums. A calamity so awful, 
not only to our country, but to the world, must be deprecated by every patriot ; and every 
tendency to a state of things likely to produce it immediately checked. Such a tendency 
has existed — does exist. 

Always the friend of my countrymen, never their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say 
to them from this high place to which their partiahty has exalted me, that there exists in 
the land a spirit hostile to their best interests — hostile to liberty itself. It is a spirit con- 
tracted in its views, selfish in its object. It looks to the aggrandizement of a few, even 
to the destruction of the interest of the whole. The entire remedy is with the people. 
Something, however, may be effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. 
It is union that we want, not of a party for the sake of that party, but a union of the 
whole country for the sake of the whole country — for the defence of its interests and its 
honor against foreign aggression, for the defence of those principles for which our ances- 
tors so gloriously contended. As far as it depends upon me, it shall be accomplished. 
All the influence that I possess shall be exerted to prevent the formation of at least an 
executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no member 
ef that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy his judgment and his sense of 



HARRISON. 387 

duty to those from whom he holds his appointment, nor any confidence in sdvance from 
the people, but that asked for by Mr. Jeflerson, " to give firmness and effect to the legal 
administration of their affairs." 

I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in express- 
ing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion, and a thorough 
conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility, 
are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness ; and to that good Being who 
has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prosper, 
ed the labors of our fathers, and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in 
excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest 
of our beloved country in all future time. 

[Here the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Taney.] 
Fellow-citizens : Being fully invested with that high office to which the partiality of 
my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will bear 
with you to your homes the remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to dis- 
charge all the high duties of my exalted station, according to the best of my ability ; and 
I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just and 
generous people. 

President Harrison entered with a hearty zeal upon the laborious duties 
of his office, laboring incessantly from the earliest dawn often until mid- 
night. The throngs of people who visited him also imposed a heavy bur- 
den upon his hands ; but he was unremitting in his labors, until attacked 
by that disease which terminated his life. On the first of April, he became 
indisposed, and called in medical assistance. His disease was soon found 
to be formidable, baffling the skill of the physicians ; and so rapidly did 
his enfeebled frame sink under the disease, that at half-past twelve on the 
morning of the fourth of April, he sunk calmly into the sleep of death. 
The last words he uttered were characteristic of his life, and breathed only 
the devotion of the patriot's heart for the good of his beloved country. " Mr 
LAST WISH," said he, "is that the true principles of the Government 

MAY be carried OUT ! 1 ASK NOTHING MORE ! !" 

The general feeling throughout the country was thus eloquently por- 
trayed by the National Intelligencer of the ninth of April, 1841, which 
contained an account of the funeral pageant : 

" So brief had been the late President's illness, that now, as in the case 
of Washington, there had scarce been time for us to begin to fear, when 
the stunning blow of the reality fell upon us like the stroke of thunder from 
a cloudless sky. Men looked aghast, and staggered, as if amazed by 
something they could scarce believe. But it was true. He who, with open 
beaming countenance, passed along our streets in the joy of his heart — he, 
the welcome, the long-expected, the desired, on whom all eyes were fast- 
ened, to whom all hearts went out, who had within him more stirring sub- 
jects of exhilirating consciousness than have met in any single bosom since 
Washington was crowned with wreaths as he came back from Yorktown, 
was, on Wednesday last, within one month, " one little month," borne along 
that same crowded avenue — crowded not as before with a jubilant people 
gathered from every quarter of the country, but with sincerely sorrowing 
multitudes following his bier. As the shouts which then rent the air were 
the free spontaneous expression of the love and joy of freemen, delighting 
to confer their highest honors on one whom they believed to have richly 
deserved them ; so, now, the tears which fell from the eyes of woman, the 
sighs and looks of grief of gray-headed men, the general, universal aspect 



388 HARRISON. 

of public sorrow, were the unbought, the unpurchasable tribute of a be- 
reaved people to public virtue and devoted patriotism. This was not the 
momentary gush of feelings wi'ought upon by the pomp and circumstance 
of a funeral procession. It was not the sable car, the nodding plumes, the 
slow and mournful array — it was the event itself — the loss of such a man, 
at such a time, which drew forth these expressions of public feeling. They 
will be substantially the same in every part of the country. As it was 
here, so it will be every where. When the words, " the President is dead," 
met the ear, the man of business dropped his pen — the artisan dropped his 
tools — children looked in the faces of their parents, and wives into the 
countenances of their husbands, and the wail of sorrow arose as if each 
had lost a parent, 'or some near and dear friend. Could General Harrison 
now look down on the land he loved, he might, indeed, " read his history 
in a nation's eyes ;" and those whose bosoms glow and struggle with high 
purposes and strong desires for their country's good, may learn in what 
they now behold, wherever they turn their eyes, how glorious a reward 
awaits the memory of those who faithfully serve their country !" 

[From the National Intelligencer, April 9, 1841. J 

THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 

Wednesday having been set apart for the solemnities of the funeral of 
the late President, some anxiety was felt, in the early part of the morning, 
as to the weather, for the sky was overcast, and fears were entertained lest 
it should come on to rain — but, as the day advanced, these apprehensions 
were dissipated ; and, though it continued rather cool, this did but favor 
the march of the troops and of the other numerous collections of persons 
who formed portions of the funeral procession. 

At sunrise, the sound of cannon from the several military stations in the 
vicinity of the city heralded the melancholy occasion which was to assem- 
ble the citizens of the District and its neighborhood, and minute-guns were 
fired during the morning. In entire consonance with those mournful sounds 
was the aspect of the whole city, as well its dwellings as its population. 
The buildings on each side of the entire length of the Pennsylvania avenue, 
with scarcely an exception, and many houses on the contiguous streets, 
were hung with festoons and streamers of black, not only about the signs 
and entrances, but in many cases from all the upper stories. Almost every 
private dwelling had crape upon the knocker and bell-handle of its door, 
and many of the very humblest abodes hung out some spontaneous signal 
of the general sorrow. The stores and places of business, even such as 
are too frequently seen open on the Sabbath, were all closed. Every thing 
like business seemed to have been forgotten, and all minds to be occupied 
with the purpose of the day. 

The railroad cars approaching the city were crowded to excess, although 
the trains were doubled ; and a large portion of the passengers stood up, 
from necessity, the entire way from Baltimore hither. The steamboats 
brought crowds of people from Alexandria, and the individuals entering 
the city from the adjacent country, on horseback, and in vehicles of every 
description, seemed to be more numerous than even on the occasion of the 
late inauguration. The great point of attraction was the President's man- 



HARRISON. 389 

sion. Towards that, all steps, all thoughts, were tending. There lay the 
body, closed in its leaden hearse, and covered with its solemn pall, seated 
in that deep repose which nothing shall break but the Archangel's trump. 
It lay on a bier in the East room, (an occupation how different from its 
wont !) and ladies were admitted all the morning, who heaped upon the 
coffin offerings of the most beautiful flowers. The northern portico of the 
mansion was hung with long banners of black, extending from column to 
column. The iron gates of the enclosure in front were closed, save when 
the carriages of the foreign ministers, members of the Cabinet, the attend- 
ing physicians, the clergy, and some other privileged persons, were admit- 
ted, preparatory to their taking the places assigned them in thg funeral 
procession. 

The military portion of it, constituting the funeral escort, began to form 
in line on the New York avenue, immediately north of the President's 
house, and a most noble and imposing appearance it presented. Without 
undertaking to give the exact order or ail the details of the military part 
of the procession, it must suffice us for the present to state that of volun- 
teers, besides the Light Infantry, National Blues, and Columbia Artillery 
of this city, and the squadron of Potomac Dragoons from Georgetown, 
there were present the Eagle Artillerists, Eutaw Infantry, Invincibles, In- 
dependent Grays, National Guards, Maryland Cadets, and Military Asso- 
ciation, of Baltimore, the Annapolis Grays, from the city of Annapolis, 
and a part of the York Riflemen and Washington Blues, from York, Penn- 
sylvania. Then there was a battalion of United States Marines, and a 
division of United States Light Artillery, commanded by Captain Ringgold, 
from Fort M'Henry. But one of the most impressive portions of the mil- 
itary part of the procession consisted of the dismounted and mounted offi- 
cers of the army, navy, militia, and volunteers. Seldom has there been 
exhibited, within a space so limited, so many distinguished military men ; 
the sight of whose well-known figures led back our thoughts to many a 
bloody field and many an ensanguined sea, on which the national honor has 
been well and nobly maintained. 

The civic part of the procession was not less striking than the military. 
It embraced the municipal officers of the District, the clergy of all denom- 
inations, the judiciary, the executive officers of the government, including 
the President of the United States and the heads of departments, the ex- 
members of the late Cabinet now in the city, the comptrollers, auditors, 
and commissioners, treasurer, register, &c., with a numerous column of 
clerks in the several departments. Such members of both Houses of Con- 
gress as are in the city also attended, and Ex-President Adams in his place. 
Next followed officers and soldiers who had served under General Harrison 
in the late war. Another division of the procession consisted of public 
societies and associations, preceded by their banners, and wearing their 
respective badges — among whom we noticed the society of Odd Fellows, 
very richly attired ; the Washington Catholic Temperance Association, with 
their white banner, displaying the cross, which is the symbol of their faith ; 
the Typographical Society ; several schools and lyceums ; and, to close all, 
the different fire companies of the district, in their showy and picturesque 
uniforms of cloaks, hats, and accoutrements, and with appropriate ensigns. 



390 HARRISON. 

The music was excellent ; several fine bands, playing mournful airs, 
giving place, frohfi time to time, to the muffled drums of the military, beat- 
ing slow marches. 

But the object of chief interest, and one which, as it passed, hushed ev- 
ery other sound, and caused many a tear to fall, was the funeral car con- 
taining the body of the deceased President. It was of large dimensions, in 
form an oblong platform, on which was a raised dais, the whole covered 
with black velvet. From the cornice of the platform fell a black velvet 
curtain outside of the wheels, to within a few inches of the ground. From 
the corners of the car a black crape festoon was formed on all sides, loop- 
ed in the centre by a funeral wreath. On the coffin lay the sword of jus- 
tice and the sword of state, surmounted by the scroll of the constitution, 
Ijound together by a funeral wreath formed of the yew and the cypress. 
The car was drawn by six white horses, having at the head of each a col- 
ored groom, dressed in white, with white turban and sash, and supported 
by pall-bearers in black.* The effect was very fine. The contrast of this 
slowly moving body of white and black, so opposite to the strong colors of 
the military around it, struck the eye even from the greatest distance, and 
gave a chilling warning beforehand that the corpse was drawing nigh. 

The entire procession occupied two full miles in length, and was mar- 
shalled on its way by officers on horseback, carrying white batons with 
black tassels. The utmost order prevailed throughout ; and, considering 
the very great concourse of people collected, the silence preserved during 
the whole course of the march was very impressive. 

Before the body was removed from the Presidential mansion, religious 
services were conducted in presence of the President of the United States 
and Ex-President Adams, the members of the late and present Cabinets, 
the foreign ministers, and the mourning household, by the Rev. Mr. Hawley. 
TJie Reverend gentleman declined making any address upon the occasion ; 
but, pointing to a Bible and Episcopal prayer-book which lay upon the 
table, stated that they had been purchased by the deceased President im- 
mediately after his arrival in the city, and had been in daily use by him 
since then ; that the late President had declared to him (Mr. Hawley) per- 
sonally his full belief in the truth of the Christian religion, and his pur- 
pose, had not disease intervened to prevent it, to have united himself to the 
church on the succeeding Sabbath. 

On the firing of the signal gun at the appointed hour, the procession, 
having received into its ranks the funeral car and the family mourners who 

* The following gentlemen, as pall-bearers, were designated to represent the several 
States and Territories which are attached to their names, at the funeral of the late Pres- 
ident : — R. Cutts, Esq., for Maine ; Hon. C. Gushing, Mass. ; W. B. Lloyd, Esq., Conn. ; 
Gen. John Granger, N. Y. ; M. Willing, Esq., Pa.; David Hoffman, Esq., Md. ; Hon. 
E. D. White, N. C. ; Gen. D. L. Clinch, Geo. ; Col. Rogers, Tenn. ; M. Durald, Esq., 
La. -, Anderson Miller, Esq., Miss. ; Dr. Perrine, Ala. ; A. W. Lyon, Esq., Ark. ; Hon. 
.T. D. Doty, Wisconsin ; Hon. W. B. Carter, Iowa ; Hon. .T. B. Moore, N. H. ; M. St. C. 
Clarke, Esq., R. L ; Hon. Hiland Hall, Vt. ; Hon. G. C. Washington, N. J. ; Hon. A. 
Naiidain, Del. ; Major Camp, Va. ; John Carter, Esq., S. C. ; Th. Crittenden, Esq., Ky. ; 
Mr. Graham, Ohio ; Gen. Robert Hanna, Ind. ; D. G. Garnsey, Esq., 111. ; Major Rus- 
eell, Mo. ; Gen. Howard, Mich. ; Hon. C. Downing, Florida ; R. Smith, Esq., Districl 
of Columbia. 



HARRISON. 391 

followed the remains of their relative to the tomb, moved along Pennsylva- 
nia avenue, under the fire of minute-guns near the President's house, 
repeated at the City Hall on the head of the column arriving opposite to it, 
and at the Capitol on its reaching the vi^estern gate of the enclosure. Hav- 
ing reached the Capitol square, passing on the south side of it, the proces- 
sion advanced over the plains eastward till it reached the space in front of 
the Congressional burying-ground. Here the car halted, while the line 
was formed by the military as they arrived, and then passed slowly on. 
being saluted as it passed with colors lowered, the troops presenting arms, 
and the officers saluting it in military form. Having reached the principal 
entrance, the car was again halted ; the coffin was taken down, and placed 
on the shoulders of the bearers ; the clergy advanced, and the Rev. Mr. 
Hawley, reciting the solemn funeral service of the Episcopal Liturgy, the 
procession advanced down the principal avenue of the cemetery until it 
reached the receiving vault, where a space had been kept open by sentries 
under arms, and where a hollow square being formed, the coffin was low- 
ered into the vault. A signal being given to the troops outside, the bat- 
talion of Light Artillery, who were placed on an adjoining eminence, fired 
a salute, which was immediately followed by the several military bodies 
in line, who commenced firing from the left to the right, and continued the 
salute till it had thrice gone up the whole line. 

The procession then resumed its march, and returned by the same route 
to the city, where the troops were dismissed, and the citizens retired to 
their several abodes. By five o'clock, nothing remained but empty streets 
and the emblems of mourning upon the houses; and the still deeper gloom, 
which oppressed the general mind with renewed power after all was over, 
and the sense of the public bereavement, alone was left to fill the thoughts. 



JOHN TYLER. 

John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States, and tne sixth in- 
cumbent of that high office whose birth-place was Virginia, was born at 
Charles-City, in Charles-City county, in the year 1789. His father, John 
Tyler, was a distinguished public man in Virginia, and governor of the 
commonwealth from 1808 to 1811. Mr. Tyler was educated at William 
and Mary College, studied law at that institution, and in the office of his 
father, and entered at an early age upon the practice of his profession. 
Scarcely had he reached the age of twenty-one years, before he was elect- 
ed by the people of his native county to represent them in the State legis- 
lature. Here we find him zealous in his efforts to promote the interests of 
his constituents and of his ancient commonwealth. In 1816, he was elected 
a representative in Congress, and continued a member of that body until 
1821. He here distinguished himself as a ready and fluent debater, and 
attracted the notice of the people of his native state by the strength and 
boldness of his views on the great questions of the day. In the memora- 
ble investigation of the United States Bank, in 1819, when the report and 
restrictions proposed by Mr. Spencer, of New York, and direct propositions 
for repeal of the charter, came up for debate, Mr. Tyler delivered his opin- 
ions in strong terms on the subject of the National Bank, as well as upon 
the whole system of banking as pursued in this country. On the 19th 
February, in the course of the debate, he said : — 

" The question whether it would be proper to direct a scire facias against 
the bank, divides itself into two heads of inquiry. First, whether the char- 
ter has been so violated as to insure a forfeiture ? — and if so, is it expedient 
to exact the forfeiture ? The decision of the first would preclude me from 
an inquiry into the second. For, sir, inasmuch as I believe the creation 
of this corporation unconstitutional, I cannot, without a violation of my 
oath, hesitate to repair the breach thus made in the constitution, when an 
opportunity presents itself of doing so without violating the public faith. 
But believing, also, that it is expedient to put it down, and other gentlemen 
feeling themselves at liberty to follow up that inquiry, I propose to express 
to you my views on that subject. 

" I think that the incorporation of the United States Bank was calcula- 
ted to delay the resumption of specie payments on the part of the State 
banks." 

" Mr. Chairman, I look to a more efficient cause for the resumption of 
specie payments : I look to the resolutions of the State legislatures, to the 
resolution of Congress, requiring the payment of all dues to the govern- 
ment to be made in specie, or the notes of banks paying specie, after the 
20th February, 1817, as the great cause of this resumption. I am dispo- 
sed to ascribe more energy to the arm of this government, than to any mo- 
neyed institution." 

50 



394 TYLER 

" Foi one, 1 enter my protest against the banking system, as conducted 
in tliis country — a system not to be supported by any correct principle of 
political economy — a gross delusion — the dream of a visionary — a system 
ti.lat has done more to corrupt the morals of society than any thing else — 
which has introduced a struggle for wealth, instead of the honorable stiug- 
gle w'liich governs the actions of a patriot, and makes ambition virtue — 
which has made the husbandman spurn his cottage, and introduced a spirit 
of luxury at variance with the simplicity of our institutions." 

" I call upon the warm advocates of banking, now to surrender their 
errors. Shall I take them by the hand, and lead them through our cities ? 
Bankruptcy meets us at every step ; ruin stares us every where in the 
face. Shall I be told of the benefits arising to commerce from the concen- 
tration of capital ? Away with the delusion — experience has exposed its 
fallacy. True, for a moment, it has operated as a stimulus ; but, like 
ardent spirits, it has produced activity and energy for a moment ; relaxa 
tion has followed, and the torpor of death has ensued." 

" The revenues amount to upwards of $20,000,000 annually. Require 
but a fourth or fifth part to be paid in gold or silver, what would be the 
effect ? The merchants would collect the notes of banks, and demand 
specie for them ; and thus a test would be adopted, by means of which to 
ascertain the solvency of each institution. The demand for specie thus 
produced, would have the beneficial effect of introducing more of it into the 
country ; for money is like every other article, and will find its way to the 
market where it is most wanting. The system might be enlarged grad- 
ually, until your wishes should be consummated." 

" I protest against the idea that the government cannot do without this 
bank. We are not dependent on this corporation. Wretched indeed would 
be our situation if such was the case." 

In 1825, Mr. Tyler was elected governor of the commor^jvealth of Vir- 
ginia, and devoted himself with characteristic ardor to the developement of 
her resources, and to the maintenance of those republican doctrines with 
which her renown is identified. Educated in the Jeffersonian school of 
politics, Governor Tyler opposed the doctrine of internal improvements by 
the federal government. In his message to the General Assembly, in De- 
cember, 1826, he says : 

" Vain and idle, indeed, was this resolution, (concerning internal im- 
provements by the general government,) if that same government has a 
right to enter upon the soil of a state, whensoever and wheresoever it may 
please to take possession of the same, convert it to its own uses and pur- 
poses, and render subject not only the property, but the persons of the 
people, to the jurisdiction of its courts ; for it would seem to follow that the 
right to create imposed the obligation to preserve, and this duty would call 
for the imposition of regulations, the violation or disregard of which ought 
of consequence to render amenable to punishment the offending individual. 
One usurpation always begets another and another, until at last the original 
S^rm of government is lost, and liberty exists only in the records of the 
past. Virginia has ever been found exerting her influence against the 
exercise of this alarming power. Her motives cannot be misunderstood by 
her sister states. Her wants are as great as theirs can well be. Possess 



TYLER. 395 

mg a surface of territory larger than almost any other state in the Union, 
the moiety of which is distinguished by its irregularity, she would find 
many inducements in accepting, in the form of internal improvements, the 
largesses of the general government. But she will not surrender volun- 
tarily her constitutional rights. She believes that liberty can only be pre- 
served by upholding the federative principle ; and she regards consolidation 
as the greatest of evils." 

On the 13th January, 1827, Governor Tyler was elected to the Senate 
of the United States for six years from the fourth of March succeeding. 
In this exalted sphere, his talents and integrity of character secured for 
him, among those with whom he acted, a commanding influence ; and his 
industrious application to the public business, the independence of his char- 
acter, and the urbanity of his manners, were followed by the respect and 
esteem of all parties in that body. His election to the Senate of the United 
States, is a sufficient proof of the estimation in which he was held by the 
republican party. During his term of service in this body, great and mo- 
mentous questions of civil policy and constitutional law were discussed and 
investigated. Probably at no period since the existence of the government, 
were weightier matters controverted, and a greater amount of talent called 
into requisition, than in the years of 1830, '31, '32, '33, and '34. The 
deepest excitement pervaded the country. 

In the Senate, May 14, 1830, the bill authorizing a subscription of stock 
in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road, being 
under consideration, Mr. Tyler said : 

" He did not rise to enter into a constitutional argument on the bill now 
under consideration. He should wait for more favorable auspices, before 
he ventured to detain the Senate by such an argument. The period might 
be near at hand, when the principles of the constitution would once more 
be invoked, and the true democratic party be called upon to rally around 
the standard which was unfurled in times long since gone by. Whenever 
the day should arrive in which the country would be so far relieved from 
the unhappy spell in which it had been bound, as to listen with attention to 
an exposition of this subject on constitutional grounds, he would not be 
wanting in his duty. I was (said Mr. T.) in that Congress which was the 
first to enter gravely into the discussion of the constitutional power of this 
government to make roads and canals. I then attentively weighed all that 
was urged by the advocates of the system — if system that may be called, 
which is none — and my decision was against them. Every subsequent 
reflection has confirmed the opinion then expressed ; and the experience of 
the last six years has satisfied me that, in its exercise, all that is dear, and 
should be considered sacred in our institutions, is put to hazard. Expe- 
rience is the parent of true wisdom, and the lights which she has furnished 
upon this subject ought to be bright enough to conduct our footsteps back to 
the path from which we have strayed." 

Mr. Tyler holds to what is called a strict construction of the constitution. 
In the Senate, February 24, 1831, the appropriation to pay the negotiators 
of the Turkish treaty being under consideration, he used the following 
language : 

" It is our duty, Mr. President, under all circumstances, and however 



TYLER. 

situated, to be faithful to the constitution. Esto perpetua should be the 
motto of all in regard to that instrument, and more emphatically those into 
whose hands it is committed by the parties to the compact of union. Sir, 
parties may succeed, and will succeed each other ; stars that shine with 
brilliancy to-day, may be struck from their spheres to-morrow ; convulsion 
may follow convulsion ; the battlements may rock about us, and the storm 
rage in its wildest fury ; but while the constitution is preserved inviolate, 
the liberties of the country will be secure. When we are asked to lay 
down the constitution upon the shrine of party, our answer is, the price 
demanded is too great. If required to pass over its violation in silence, we 
reply, that to do so would be infidelity to our trust, and treason to those 
who sent us here. The constant effort of Virginia has been directed to its 
preservation : the political conflict of the hour has never led her to yield it 
for an instant. No matter with what solemnity the violation has been 
attended ; although sanctioned by the two Houses of Congress and the 
President of the United States, and confirmed by judicial decision, she has 
not halted in her duty. How little, then, should we be entitled to repre- 
sent her, if we could so far forget ourselves as to hobble in our course !" 

In December, 1832, General Jackson issued his celebrated proclamation. 
It was designed to arrest the proceedings of the state of South Carolina, 
which were viewed as hostile to the existence of the union of the confed- 
erated states. With the view of carrying out his plans, as laid down in 
this state paper, he called on Congress to invest him with larger powers. 
By many, distinguished for their love of country, the bill commonly called 
*' the force hill," was deemed subversive of the rights of sovereign states. 
At this moment, Mr. Tyler came forth with a mass of infoi'matron, lucidly 
arranged, and carefully and logically bodied forth, at once creditable to 
his talents as a speaker, and confessedly useful to the cause which he es- 
poused, and the principles which he vindicated. 

On the 10th April, at the close of a very able speech, which occupied 
two days in the delivery, upon Mr. Clay's resolutions for a modification of 
the tariff, Mr. Tyler closed as follows : 

" In the names of the great actors of former times under the roof of that 
very edifice, [Faneuil Hall,] I invoke honorable Senators to pause, long- 
to pause, ere they decide that this grinding system shall receive no abate- 
ment. Its oppression, if that were the only circumstance, would be as 
nothing in comparison with the alienation of feeling which it has produced. 
What can compensate for the loss of that affection on the part of even a 
single state in this Union ? Flatter not yourselves that this is exclusively 
a South Carolina question. No, sir ; it is a Southern question. Every 
state on the other side of the Potomac feels alike interested in it : nor labor 
under the morbid apprehension that to grant relief can produce the slightest 
tendency to disunion. Do you seek to give perpetuity to the Union, prac- 
tise not injustice ; for, as certain as fate itself, they who sow injustice will 
reap iniquity. I have been reared in a reverential affection for the Union. 
My imagination has led me to look into the distant future, and there to 
contemplate the greatness of free America. I have beheld her walking 
on the waves of the mighty deep, carrying along with her tidings of great 
joy to distant nations. I have seen her overturning the strong places of 



TYLER. 397 

despotism, and restoring to man his long lost rights. Wo, wo betide that 
man who shall sow the seeds of disunion among us ! Better for him had 
he never been born. If he call upon the mountains to hide him — nay, if 
he bury himself in the very centre of the earth, the indignation of man- 
kind will find him out, and blast him with its lightnings." 

In 1834, in consequence of the violent usurpations of General Jackson, 
the Senate of the United States adopted a resolution, censuring the Pres- 
ident for the exertion of unconstitutional powers. Mr. Tyler, ever faithful 
to those ancient principles of Virginia, which were then sunk to the lowest 
depression, stood by the constitution, and asserted its mandates. The reso- 
lution was adopted. Shortly thereafter, the administration gaining the 
ascendancy in that body, a resolution was introduced by a Senator from 
Missouri, to expunge this resolution censuring the President for exercising 
unconstitutional powers, and thus violating this sacred instrument. As 
Mr. Tyler had contributed his support to the adoption of this resolution, he 
resisted its expunction. The mutilation of the journals of the Senate he 
opposed with the greatest energy. During this alarming crisis, we find 
him distinguished by his fidelity to the interests of the country — by his 
stern devotion to his duty, and his inflexibility of principle. 

When instructed by that body from whence he derived his power as 
Senator of the United States — and which every man is bound to consider 
the true representative of the will of the people of the state — to support 
the expunging resolution, he took the alternative presented to the choice of 
every high-minded citizen. He acted as a man of principle and honor 
always acts. He could not obey, and he resigned, in order that the legis- 
lative body which instructed him might supply his place with one who 
could conscientiously obey its instructions. By this means he preserved 
his own integrity, without violating a duty of a representative of the peo- 
ple. He conducted himself like a faithful public servant, who, being 
commanded to do an act which he cannot approve, disdains to receive any 
longer the wages of a master he refuses to obey. He sacrificed a station 
as honorable as any which presents itself to the ambition of a citizen of the 
United States, and voluntarily sought retirement from a scene which he 
embellished by his highly cultivated talents, and ennobled by his lofty and 
uncompromising integrity. 

Such an act of devotion to the great principle of representative respon 
sibility, is one that deserves to be recorded, not only for its magnanimity, 
but for its rarity. 

It is the character and habit of the President not to yield a blind acqui- 
escence to the opinions of any individual. His judgment was not satisfied 
with the propriety of the measure of removing the deposites from the Bank 
of the United States. He foresaw the consequences it would produce, and 
desired an opportunity to investigate and reflect upon it. Such an oppor- 
tunity he made an effort to obtain, and when that effort was successful, 
rather than unite with his political friends in supporting a measure preg- 
nant with results so extensive and important, without a full conviction of 
its necessity or constitutionality, he chose, by manly independence, to haz- 
ard all the imputations to which his vote with the minority might possibly 
subject him. Those who acted with him were too well acquainted with 



398 TYLER. 

the purity and firmness of his principles, political and moral, to misrepre- 
sent his motives, or to arraign the propriety of his conduct. His opposition 
to this measure, and to the expunging resolution, elevated him greatly in 
the confidence of the Whig party. Although he had been ostracized — 
banished from the Senate of the United States — by a faithful adherence to 
the doctrines of insti'uction, his virtues and independence as a statesman 
still continued to hold a firm grasp on the affections of the people. The 
Whig party, cherishing for him an elevated regard, placed him on the 
ticket with the late General William Henry Harrison, as their candidate 
for the Vice-Presidency. With that distinguished individual, he was ele- 
vated to office by almost acclamation. On the fourth of March, 1841, he 
took his seat as Vice-President of the United States, little dreaming of the 
destiny which an overruling Providence was in one short month to devolve 
upon him. President Harrison died on the fourth of April ; whereby, un- 
der our constitution, the duties and responsibilities of President were de- 
volved upon Vice-President Tyler. 

Immediately after the decease of President Harrison, Mr. Webster, Jr., 
chief clerk of the department of state, left Washington for the residence 
of the Vice-President, in Virginia, bearing to him the following letter : 

Washington, April 4, 1841. 
To John Tylek, Vice-President of the United States : 

Sir : It has become our most painful duty to inform you that William 
Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, has departed this life. 
This distressing event took place this day, at the President's mansion, in 
this city, at thirty mirrutes before one in the morning. 

We lose no time in despatching the chief clerk in the state department 
as a special messenger to bear you these melancholy tidings. 

We have the honor to be, with the highest regard, your obedient ser- 
vants, Daniel Webster, 

Secretary of State. 
Thomas Ewing, 
Secretary of the Treasury. 

John Bell, 
Secreiiiry of War. 

John J. Crittenden, 
Attorney General. 

Francis Granger, 
Postmaster General. 

Vice-President Tyler lost no time in repairing to the seat of government, 
where he arrived on the morning of the sixth of x\pril, taking lodgings at 
Brown's hotel. At twelve o'clock, all the heads of departments, with the 
exception of the Secretary of the Navy, (who was absent with his family 
in Georgia,) waited upon him, to pay him their official and personal re- 
spects. They were received with the utmost kindness and cordiality. The 
Vice-President signified to .them his deep feeling of the public calamity 
sustained by the death of President Harrison, and expressed his profound 
sensibility to the heayy responsibilities so suddenly devolved upon himself. 
He spoke of the present state of things with great concern and seriousness, 



TYLER. 399 

and made known his wishes that the several heads of departments >vouId 
continue to fill the places which tiiey respectively occupied, and his 
confidence that they would afTord all the aid in their power to enable him 
to carry on the administration of the government successfully. 

The President then took and subscribed the following oath of office : 

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President 
of the United States ; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, 
and defend the constitution of the United States. John Tyler. 

April 6, 1841. 

District of Columbia, } 

V PC 

City and county of Washington, ^ 

I, William Ceanch, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of the District of 
Columbia, certify that the above named John Tyler personally appeared 
before me this day ; and, although he deems himself qualified to perform 
the duties and exercise the powers and office of President on the death of 
William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, without any 
other oath than that which he has taken as Vice-President, yet, as doubts 
may arise, and for greater caution, took and subscribed the foregoing oath 
before me. W. Cranch. 

April e, 1841. 

After the solemn pageant of the funeral of President Harrison had pass- 
ed, the following address was published by President Tyler : 

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Fellow-Citizens ; Before my arrival at the seat of government, the 
painful communication was made to you, by the officers presiding over the 
several departments, of the deeply regretted death of William Henry Har- 
rison, late President of the United States. Upon him you had conferred 
your suffrages for the first office in your gifl;, and had selected him as your 
chosen instrument to correct and reform all such errors and abuses as had 
manifested themselves from time to time in the practical operation of the 
government. While standing at the threshold of this great work, he has, 
by the dispensation of an all-wise Providence, been removed from amongst 
us ; and, by the provisions of the constitution, the efforts to be directed to 
the accomplishing of this vitally important task, have devolved upon my- 
self. This same occurrence has subjected the wisdom and sufficiency of 
our institutions to a new test. For the first time in our history, the person 
elected to the Vice-Presidency of the United States, by the happening of a 
contingency provided for in the constitution, has had devolved upon him 
the Presidential office. The spirit of faction, which is directly opposed to 
the spirit of a lofty patriotism, may find in this occasion for assaults upon 
my administration. And in succeeding, under circumstances so sudden 
and unexpected, and to responsibilities so greatly augmented, to the admin- 
istration of public affairs, I shall place in the intelligence and patriotism of 
the people my only sure reliance. My earnest prayer shall bo constantly 
addressed to the all-wise and all-poworful Being who made me, and by 
whose dispensation I am called to the high office of President of this con- 



400 TYLER. 

federacy, understandingly to carry out the principles of that constitutiod 
which I have sworn " to protect, preserve, and defend." 

The usual opportunity which is afforded to a chief magistrate, upon his 
induction to office, of presenting to his countrymen an exposition of the 
policy which would guide his administration, in the form of an inaugural 
address, not having, under the peculiar circumstances which have brought 
me to the discharge of the high duties of President of the United States, 
been afforded to me, a brief exposition of the principles which will govern 
me in the general course of my administration of public affairs, would 
seem to be due as well to myself as to you. In regard to foreign nations, 
the groundwork of my policy will be justice on our part to all, submitting 
to injustice from none. While I shall sedulously cultivate the relations of 
peace and amity with one and all, it will be my most imperative duty to 
see that the honor of the country shall sustain no blemish. With a view 
to this, the condition of our military defences will become a matter of 
anxious solicitude. The army, which has in other days covered itself with 
renown ; and the navy, not inappropriately termed the right arm of the 
public defence, which has spread a light of glory over the American 
standard in all the waters of the earth, should be rendered replete with 
efficiency. 

In view of the fact, well vouched by history, that the tendency of all 
human institutions is to concentrate power in the hands of a single man, 
and that their ultimate downfall has proceeded from this cause, I deem 
it of the most essential importance that a complete separation should take 
place between the sword and the purse. No matter where or how the 
public moneys shall be deposited, so long as the President can exert the power 
of appointing and removing, at his pleasure, the agents selected for their 
custody, the commander-in-chief of the army and navy is in fact the trea- 
surer. A permanent and radical change should therefore be decreed. 
The patronage incident to the Presidential office, already great, is con- 
stantly increasing. Such increase is destined to keep pace with the growth 
of our population, until, without a figure of speech, an army of office- 
holders may be spread over the land. The unrestrained power exerted by 
a selfishly ambitious man, in order either to perpetuate his authority, or to 
hand it over to some favorite as his successor, may lead to the employment 
of all the means within his control to accomplish his object. The right to 
remove from office, while subjected to no just restraint, is inevitably des- 
tined to produce a spirit of crouching servility with the official corps, which, 
in order to uphold the hand which feeds them, would lead to direct and 
active interference in the elections, both state and federal, thereby subject- 
ing the course of state legislation to the dictation of the chief executive 
officer, and making the will of that officer absolute and supreme. I will, 
at a proper time, invoke the action of Congress upon this subject, and shall 
readily acquiesce in the adoption of all proper measures which are calcu- 
lated to arrest these evils, so full of danger in their tendency. I will 
remove no incumbent from office who has faithfully and honestly acquitted 
himself of the duties of his office, except in such cases where such officer 
has been guilty of an active partisanship, or by secret means — the less 
manly, and therefore the more objectionable — has given his official influ. 



TYLER. 461 

ence to the purposes of party, thereby bringing the patronage of the gov- 
ernment in conflict with the freedom of elections. Numerous removals 
may become necessary under this rule. These will be made by me through 
no acerbity of feeling. I have had no cause to cherish or indulge unkind 
feelings towards any, but my conduct will be regulated by a profound 
sense of what is due to the country and its institutions ; nor shall I neglect 
to apply the same unbending rule to those of my own appointment. Free- 
dom of opinion will be tolerated, the full enjoyment of the right of suffrage 
will be maintained, as the birthright of every American citizen ; but I say 
emphatically to the ofiicial corps, " thus far, and no further." I have 
dwelt the longer upon this subject, because removals from office are likely 
often to arise, and I would have my countrymen understand the principle 
of the executive action. 

In all public expenditures, the most rigid economy should be resorted to ; 
and, as one of its results, a public debt in time of peace be sedulously 
avoided. A wise and patriotic constituency will never object to the impo- 
sition of necessary burdens for useful ends ; and true wisdom dictates the 
resort to such means, in order to supply deficiencies in the revenue, rather 
than to those doubtful expedients which, ultimating in a public debt, serve 
to embarrass the resources of the country, and to lessen its ability to meet 
any great emergency which may arise. All sinecures should be abolish- 
ed. The appropriations should be direct and explicit, so as to leave as 
limited a share of discretion to the disbursing agents as may be found com- 
patible with the public service. A strict responsibility on the part of all 
the agents of the government should be maintained, and peculation or de- 
falcation visited with immediate expulsion from office, and the most condign 
punishment. 

The public interest also demands that if any war has existed between 
the government and the currency, it shall cease. Measures of a financial 
character, now having the sanction of legal enactment, shall be faithfully 
enforced until repealed by the legislative authority. But I owe it to myself 
to declare that I regard existing enactments as unwise and impolitic, and 
in a high degree oppressive. I shall promptly give my sanction to any 
constitutional measure which, originating in Congress, shall have for its 
object the restoration of a sound circulating medium, so essentially neces- 
sary to give confidence in all the transactions of life, to secure to industry 
its just and adequate rewards, and to re-establish the public prosperity. In 
deciding upon the adaptation of any such measure to the end proposed, as 
well as its conformity to the constitution, I shall resort to the fathers of the 
great republican school for advice and instruction, to be drawn from their 
sage views of our system of government, and the light of their ever glo- 
rious example. ' 

The institutions under which we live, my countrymen, secure each per- 
son in the perfect enjoyment of all his rights. The spectacle is exhibited 
to the world of a government deriving its powers from the consent of the 
governed, and having imparted to it only so much power as is necessary 
For its successful operation. Those who are charged with its administra- 
tion should carefully abstain from all attempts to enlarge the range of pow- 
ers thus granted to the several departments of the government, other than 

51 



402 TYLER. 

by an appeal to the people for additional grants, lest by so doing they dis- 
turb that balance which the patriots and statesmen who framed the consti- 
tution designed to establish between the federal government and the states 
composing the Union. The observance of these rules is enjoined upon us 
by that feeling of reverence and affection which finds a place in the heart 
of every patriot for the preservation of union and the blessings of union — 
for the good of our children and our children's children, through countless 
o-enerations. An opposite course could not fail to generate factions, intent 
upon the gratification of their selfish ends, to give birth to local and sectional 
jealousies, and to ultimate either in breaking asunder the bonds of union, 
or in building up a central system, which would inevitably end in a bloody 
sceptre and an iron crown. 

In conclusion, I beg you to be assured that I shall exert myself to carry 
the foregoing principles into practice during my administration of the gov- 
ernment ; and, confiding in the protecting care of an ever-watchful and 
overruling Providence, it shall be my first and highest duty to preserve 
unimpaired the free institutions under which we live, and transmit them to 
those who shall succeed me in their full force and vigor. 

John Tyler. 

Washington, April 9, 1841. 

The principles set forth in this address gave general satisfaction to tne 
country. 

The new Congress had been summoned by the late President to meet m 
extra session on the 31st of May, under the belief that the means at the 
disposal of the Treasury would be insufficient to carry on the government 
until the period of the regular session. It was supposed to be necessary, 
also, to provide additional revenues, in consequence of the existing debt of 
the country, and the diminished receipts from the customs under the com- 
promise act of 1833. A favorite measure with the victorious party of 
1840, was the distribution among the states of the proceeds of the sales of 
the public lands. A change in the fiscal arrangements of the government, 
and some general arrangement of the currency, was also in contemplation. 
On all these great topics, the views of the President were shadowed for^h 
in his first message, as follows : 

Fellow-Citizens : You have been assembled in your respective halls of legislation un- 
der a proclamation bearing the signature of the illustrious citizen who was so lately called 
by the direct suffrages of the people to the discharge of the important functions of their 
chief executive office. Upon the expiration of a single month from the day of his instal- 
lation, he has paid the great debt of nature, leaving behind him a name associated with 
the recollection of numerous benefits conferred upon the country during a long life of 
patriotic devotion. With this public bereavement are connected other considerations, 
which will not escape the attention of Congress. The preparations necessary for his 
removal to the seat of government, in view of a residence of four years, must have de- 
volved upon the late President heavy expenditures, which, if permitted to burden the 
limited resources of his private fortune, may tend to the serious embarrassment ol his 
surviving family ; and it is therefore respectfully submitted to Congress whether the ordi- 
nary principles of justice would not dictate the propriety of its legislative interposition. 
By the provisions of the fundamental law, the powers and duties of the high station to 
which he was elected have devolved upon me ; and in the dispositions of the representa. 
tives of the states and of the people will be found, to a great extent, a solution of the 
problem to which our institutions are for the first time subjected. 



TYLER. 4£tfS 

In entering upon the duties of this office, I did not feel that it would be becoming in 
me to disturb what had been ordered by my lamented predecessor. Whatever, therefore, 
may have been my opinion, originally, as to the propriety of convening Congress at so 
early a day from that of its late adjournment, I found a new and a controlling induce, 
ment not to interfere with the patriotic desires of the late President, in the novelty of the 
situation in which I was so unexpectedly placed. My first wish, under such circum- 
stances, would necessarily have been to have called to my aid, in the administration of 
pubhc affairs, the combined wisdom of the two Houses of Congress, in order to take their 
counsel and advice as to the best mode of extricating the government and the country 
from the embarrassments weighing heavily on both. I am then most happy in finding 
myself, so soon after my accession to the Presidency, surrounded by the immediate rep- 
resentatives of the states and people. 

No important changes having taken place in our foreign relations since the last session 
of Congress, it is not deemed necessary on this occasion to go into a detailed statement 
in regard to them. I am happy to say that I see nothing to destroy the hope of being 
able to preserve peace. 

The ratification of the treaty with Portugal has been duly exchanged between the two 
governments. This government has not been inattentive to the interests of those of our 
citizens who have claims on the government of Spain, founded on express treaty stipula- 
tions ; and a hope is indulged that the representations which have been made to that 
government on this subject may lead, ere long, to beneficial results. 

A correspondence has taken place between the Secretary of State and the minister of 
her Britannic Majesty accredited to this government, on the subject of Alexander M'Leod's 
ind'ctment and imprisonment, copies of which are herewith communicated to Congress. 

In addition to what appears from these papers, it may be proper to state that Alexan- 
der M'Leod has been heard by the Supreme Court of the state of New York on his mo- 
tion to be discharged from imprisonment, and that the decision of that Court has not as 
yet been pronounced. 

The Secretary of State has addressed to me a paper upon two subjects, interesting to 
the commerce of the country, which will receive ray considerafion, and which I have the 
honor to communicate to Congress. 

So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of good-will and 
friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations. The true American pohcy will 
be found to consist in the exercise of a spirit of jusfice, to be manifested in the discharge 
of all our international obligations, to the weakest of the family of nations as well as to 
the most powerful. Occasional conflicts of opinion may arise ; but when the discussions 
incident to them are conducted in the language of truth, and with a strict regard to jus- 
tice, the scourge of war will for the most part be avoided. The time ought to be regard- 
ed as having gone by when a resort to arms is to be esteemed as the only proper arbiter 
of national differences. 

The census recently taken shows a regularly progressive increase in our population 
Upon the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, our numbers scarcely equalled three 
millions of souls — they already exceed seventeen millions, and will continue to increase 
in a ratio which duplicates in a period of about twenty-three years. The old states con- 
tain a territory sufficient in itself to maintain a population of additional millions, and the 
most populous of the new states may even yet be regarded as but partially settled ; while 
of the new lands on this side of the Rocky mountains, to say nothing of the immense 
region which stretches from the base of those mountains to the mouth of the Columbia 
river, about 770,000,000 of acres, ceded and unced«d, still remain to be brought into 
market. We hold out to the people of other countries an invitation to come and settle 
among us as members of our rapidly growing family ; and, for the blessings which we, 
offer them, we require of them to look upon our country as their country, and to unite 
with us in the great task of preserving our institutions, and thereby perpetuating our lib- 
erties. No motive exists for foreign conquests. We desire but to reclaim our almost 
illimitable wildernesses, and to introduce into their depths the lights of civilization. While 
we shall at all times be prepared to vindicate the national honor, our most earnest desire 
will be to maintain an unbroken peace. 

In presenting the foregoing views, I cannot withhold the expression of the opinion that 
there exists nothing in the extension of our empire over our acknowledged possessions to 
oxcite the alarm of the patriot for the safety of our institutions. The federative system, 



404 TYLER. 

leaving to each state the care of its domestic concerns, and devolving on the federal gov. 
eminent those of general import, admits in safety of the greatest expansion ; but, at the 
same time, I deem it proper to add that there will be found to exist at all times animpe- 
rious necessity for restraining all the functionaries of this government within the range 
of their respective powers, thereby preserving a just balance between the powers granted 
to this government and those reserved to the states and to the people. 

From the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, you will perceive that the fiscal 
means, present and accruing, are insufficient to supply the wants of the government for 
the current year. The balance in the treasury on the fourth day of March last, not cov- 
ered by outstanding drafts, and exclusive of trust funds, is estimated at $860,000. This 
includes the sum of $215,000 deposited in the mint and its branches to procure metal 
for coining, and in the process of coinage, and which could not be withdrawn without 
inconvenience ; thus leaving subject to draft, in the various depositories, the sum of 
$643,000. By virtue of two several acts of Congress, the Secretary of the Treasury 
was authorized to issue, on and after the fourth day of March last, treasury notes to the 
amount of $5,413,000, making an aggregate available fund of $6,058,000 on hand. 

But this fund was chargeable with outstanding treasury notes redeemable in the current 
year, and interest thereon, to the estimated amount of five milhons two hundred and 
eighty thousand dollars. There is also thrown upon the treasury the payment of a large 
amount of demands accrued in whole or m part in former years, which will exhaust the 
available means of the treasury, and leave the accruing revenue, reduced as it is in 
amount, burdened with debt, and charged with the current expenses of the government. 
The aggregate amount of outstanding appropriations on the fourth day of March last, 
was $33,429,616 50, of which $24,210,000 will be required during the current year; 
and there will also be required for the use of the War Department additional appropria- 
tions to the amount of $2,511,132 98, the special objects of which will be seen by refer- 
ence to the report of the Secretary of War. 

The anticipated means of the treasury are greatly inadequate to this demand. The 
receipts from customs for the last three quarters of the last year, and the first quarter of 
the present year, amounted to $12,100,000 ; the receipts for lands for the same time to 
$2,742,430 60 ; showing an average revenue, from both sources, of $1,236,870 per 
month. A gradual expansion of trade, growing out of a restoration of confidence, to- 
gether with a reduction in the expenses of collecting, and punctuality on the part of col- 
lecting officers, may cause an addition to the monthly receipts from the customs. They 
are estimated for the residue of the year from the fourth of March, at $12,000,000 ; the 
receipts from the public lands for the same time are estimated at $2,500,000 ; and from 
miscellaneous sources, at $170,000 ; making an aggregate of available fund within the 
year of $14,670,000 ; which will leave a probable deficit of $11,406,000. To meet 
this, some temporary provision is necessary, until the amount can be absorbed by the 
excess of revenues which are anticipated to accrue at no distant day. 

There will fall due, within the next three months, treasury notes of the issues of 1840, 
including interest, about $2,850,000. There is chargeable in the same period for arrear 
nges for taking the sixth census, $294,000 ; and the estimated expenditures for the cur- 
rent service are about $8,100,000, making the aggregate demand upon the treasury, prior 
to the first of September next, about $11,340,000. 

The ways and means in the treasury, and estimated to accrue within the above named 
period, consist of about $694,000 of funds available on the 28th ultimo ; an unissued 
balance of treasury notes, authorized by the act of 1841, amounting to $1,955,000, and 
estimated receipts from all sources of $3,800,000, making an aggregate of about 
$6,450,000, and leaving a probable deficit on the first of September next of about 
$4,845,000. 

In order to supply the wants of the government, an intelligent constituency, in view 
of their best interests, will, without hesitation, submit to all necessary burdens. But it is 
nevertheless important so to impose them as to avoid defeating the just expectations of 
the country, growing out of pre-existing laws. The act of the 2d March, 1833, com- 
monly called the compromise act, should not be altered except under urgent necessities, 
which are not believed at this time to exist. One year only remains to complete the 
series of reductions provided for by that law, at which time provisions made by the same 
,^w, and which then will be brought actively in aid of the manufacturing interests of the 
t^nion, will not fail to produce the most beneficial results. Under a system of discrira 



TYLER. 405 

inating duties imposed for purposes of revenue, in unison with the provisions of existing 
laws, it is to be hoped that our policy will, in the future, be fixed and permanent, so as to 
avoid those constant fluctuations which defeat the very objects they have in view. We 
shall thus best maintain a position which, while it will enable us the more readily to meet 
the advances of other countries, calculated to promote our trade and commerce, will, at 
the same time, leave in our own hands the means of retahating with greater effect unjust 
regulations. 

In intimate connection with the question of revenue, is that which makes provision for 
a suitable fiscal agent, capable of adding increased facilities in the collection and dis- 
bursement of the public revenues, rendering more secure their custody, and consulting a 
true economy in the great, multipHedv and delicate operations of the Treasury Depart, 
ment. Upon such an agent depends, in an eminent degree, the establishment of a cur- 
rency of uniform value, which is of so great importance to all the essential interests of 
society; and on the wisdom to be manifested in its creation, much depends. So inti. 
mately interwoven are its operations not only with the interests of individuals, but of 
states, that it may be regarded in a great degree as controlling both. If paper be used 
as the chief medium of circulation, and the power be vested in the government of issuing 
it at pleasure, either in the form of treasury drafts or any other, or if banks be used as 
the pubhc depositories, with liberty to regard all surpluses, from day to day, as so much 
added to their active capital, prices are exposed to constant fluctuations, and industry to 
severe suffering.- In the one case, political considerations, directed to party purposes, 
may control, while excessive cupidity may prevail in the other. The public is thus con- 
stantly liable to imposition. Expansions and contractions may follow each other in rapid 
succession, the one engendering a reckless spirit of adventure and speculation, which 
embraces states as well as individuals ; the other causing a fall in prices, and accomplish, 
ing an entire change in the aspect of affairs. Stocks of all kinds rapidly decline — indi- 
viduals are ruined, and states embarrassed even in their efforts to meet with punctuality 
the interest on their debts. Such, unhappily, is the condition of things now existing in 
the United States, These effects may readily be traced to the causes above referred to. 
The public revenues, on being removed from the then Bank of the United States, under 
an order of a late President, were placed in selected state banks, which, actuated by the 
double motive of conciliating the government and augmenting their profits to the greatest 
possible extent, enlarged extravagantly their discounts, thus enabling all other existing 
banks to do the same. Large dividends were declared, which, stimulating the cupidity 
of capitalists, caused a rush to be made to the legislatures of the respective states for 
similar acts of incorporation, which, by many of the states, under a temporary infatua- 
tion, were readily granted ; and thus the augmentation of the circulating medium, con- 
sisting almost exclusively of paper, produced a most fatal delusion. An illustration, 
derived fi-om the land sales of the period alluded to, will serve best to show the efl^ect of 
the whole system. The average sales of the pubHc lands, for a period of ten years prior 
to 1834, had not much exceeded $2,000,000 per annum. In 1834 they attained, in 
round numbers, to the amount of $6,000,000. In the succeeding year of 1835, they 
reached $16,000,000 ; and in 1836 they amounted to the enormous sum of $25,000,000 
— thus crowding into the short space of three years upwards of twenty-three years' pur- 
chase of the public domain. So apparent had become the necessity of arresting this 
course of things, that the Executive Department assumed the highly questionable power 
of discriminating in the funds to be used in payment by different classes of pubhc debt- 
ors — a discrimination which was doubtless designed to correct this most ruinous state of 
things by the exaction of specie in all payments for the pubhc lands, but which could not 
at once arrest the tide which had so strongly set in. Hence the demands for specie became 
unceasing, and corresponding prostration rapidly ensued under the necessities created 
with the banks to curtail their discounts, and thereby to reduce their circulation. I recur 
to these things with no disposition to censure pre-existing administrations of the govern- 
ment, but simply in exemplification of the truth of the position which I have assumed. 
If, then, any fiscal agent which may be created shall be placed, without due restrictions, 
either in the hands of the administrators of the government or those of private individ- 
uals, the temptation to abuse will prove to be resistless. Objects of political aggrandize- 
ment may seduce the first, and the promptings of a boundless cupidity will assail the 
last. Aided by the experience of the past, it will be the pleasure of Congress so to guard 
and fortify the pubhc interests, in the creation of any new agent, as to place them, so far 



406 TYLER. 

as human wisdom can accomplish it, on a footing of perfect security. Within a few years 
past, three different schemes have been before the country. The charter of the Bank of 
the United States expired by its own hmitation in 1836. An effort was made to renew 
it, which received the sanction of the two Houses of Congress, but the then President 
of the United States exercised his veto power, and the measure was defeated. A regard 
to truth requires me to say that the President was fully sustained in the course he had 
taken by the popular voice. His successor in the chair of state unqualifiedly pronounced 
his opposition to any new charter of a similar institution ; and not only the popular elec- 
tion which brought him into power, but the elections through much of his term, seemed 
clearly to indicate a concurrence with him in sentiment on the part of the people. After 
the public moneys were withdrawn from the United States Bank, they were placed in 
deposite with the slate banks, and the result of that policy has been before the countiy. 
To say nothing as to the question whether that experiment was made under propitious 
or adverse circumstances, it may safely be asserted that it did receive the unqualified con- 
demnation of most of its early advocates, and it is believed was also condemned by the 
popular sentiment. The existing sub-treasury system does not seem to stand in higher 
favor with the people, but has recently been condemned in a manner too plainly indicated 
to admit of a doubt. Thus, in the short period of eight years, the popular voice may be 
regarded as having successively condemned each of the three schemes of finance to which 
I have adverted. As to the first, it was introduced at a time (1816) when the state 
banks, then comparatively few in number, had been forced to suspend specie payments, 
by reason of the war which had previously prevailed with Great Britain. Whether, if 
the United States Bank charter, which expired in 1811, had been renewed in due season, 
it would have been enabled to continue specie payments during the war, and the disas- 
trous period to the commerce of the country which immediately succeeded, is, to say the 
least, problematical : and whether the United States Bank of 1816 produced a restoration 
of specie payments, or the same was accomplished through the instrumentality of other 
means, was a matter of some difficulty at that time to determine. Certain it is that, for 
the first years of the operation of that Bank, its course was as disastrous as for the greater 
part of its subsequent career it became eminently successful. As to the second, the ex- 
periment was tried with a redundant treasury, which continued to increase until it seemed 
to be the part of wisdom to distribute the surplus revenue among the states, which, op- 
erating at the same time with the specie circular, and the causes before adverted to, 
caused them to suspend specie payments, and involved the country in the greatest embar- 
rassment. And, as to the third, if carried through all the stages of its transmutation, from 
paper and specie to nothing but the precious metals, to say nothing of the insecurity of 
the public moneys, its injurious effects have been anticipated by the country in its unqual- 
ified condemnation. What is now to be regarded as the judgment of the American peo- 
ple on this whole subject, I have no accurate means of determining, but by appealing to 
their more innnediate representatives. The late contest, which terminated in the election 
of General Harrison to the Presidency, was decided on principles well known, and openly 
declared : and, while the sub-treasury received in the result the most decided condemna- 
tion, yet no other scheme of finance seemed to have been concurred in. To you, then, 
who have come more directly from the body of our common constituents, I submit the 
entire question, as best qualified to give a full exposition of their wishes and opinions. I 
shall be ready to concur with you in the adoption of such system as you may propose, 
reserving to myself the ultimate power of rejecting any measure which may, in my view 
of it, conflict with the constitution, or otherwise jeopard the prosperity of the country — a 
power which I could not part with, even if I would, but which I will not beheve any act 
of yours will call into requisition. 

I cannot avoid recurring, in connection with this subject, to the necessity which exists 
for adopting some suitable measure whereby the unlimited creation of banks by the states 
may be corrected in future. Such result can be most readily achieved by the consent of 
the states, to be expressed in the form of a compact among themselves, which they can 
only enter into with the consent and approbation of this government — a consent which, 
in the present emergency of the public demands, may justifiably be given by Congress 
in advance of any action by the states, as an inducement to such action, upon terms well 
defined by the act of tender. Such a measure, addressing itself to the calm reflection of 
the states, would find, in the experience of the past and the condition of the present, 
much to sustain it. And it is greatly to be doubted whether any scheme of finance can 



TYLER. 407 

pirove for any length of time successful, while the states shall continue in the unrestrained 
exercise of the power of creating banking corporations. This power can only be limited 
by their consent. 

With the adoption of a financial agency of a satisfactory character, the hope may be 
indulged that the country may once more return to a state of prosperity. Measures aux- 
iUary thereto, and in some measure inseparably connected with its success, will doubtless 
claim the attention of Congress. Among such, a distribution of the proceeds of (he sales 
of the public lands, provided such distribution does not force upon Congress the necessity 
of imposing upon commerce heavier burdens than those contemplated by the act of 1833, 
would act as an efficient remedial measure, by being brought directly in aid of the states. 
As one sincerely devoted to the task of preserving a just balance in our system of gov- 
ernment, by the maintenance of the states in a condition the most free and respectable, 
and in the full possession of all their power, I can no otherwise than feel desirous for 
their emancipation from the situation to which the pressure on their finances now subjects 
them. And while I must repudiate, as a measure founded in error, and wanting consti- 
tutional sanction, the slightest approach to an assumption by this government of the debts 
of the states, yet I can see, in the distribution adverted to, much to recommend it. The 
compacts between the proprietor states and this government expressly guaranty to the 
states all the benefits which may arise from the sales. The mode by which this is to be 
effected addresses itself to the discretion of Congress, as the trustee for the states ; and 
its exercise, after the most beneficial manner, is restrained by nothing in the grants or in 
the constitution, so long as Congress shall consult that equality in the distribution which 
the compacts require. In the present condition of some of the states, the question of 
distribution may be regarded as substantially a question between direct and indirect tax- 
ation. If the distribution be not made in some form of other, the necessity will daily 
become more urgent with the debtor states for a resort to an oppressive system of direct 
taxation, or their credit, and necessarily their power and influence, will be greatly dimin- 
ished. The payment of taxes, after the most inconvenient and oppressive mode, will be 
exacted in place of contributions for the most part voluntarily made, and therefore com- 
paratively unoppressive. The states are emphatically the constituents of this government ; 
and we should be entirely regardless of the objects held in view by them in the creation 
of this government, if we could be indifferent to their good. The happy efiects of such 
a measure upon all the states would immediately be manifested. With the debtor states, 
it would eflfect the relief, to a great extent, of the citizens from a heavy burden of direct 
taxation, which presses with severity on the laboring classes, and eminently assist in 
restoring the general prosperity. An immediate advance would take place in the price 
of the state securities, and the attitude of the states would become once more, as it 
Bnould ever be, lofty and erect. With states laboring under no extreme pressure from 
debt, the fund which they would derive from this source would enable them to improve 
their condition in an eminent degree. So far as this government is concerned, appropri- 
ations to domestic objects, approaching in amount the revenue derived from the land 
sales, might be abandoned ; and thus a system of unequal and therefore unjust legislation 
would be substituted by one dispensing equahty to all the members of this confederacy. 
Whether such distribution should be made directly to the states in the proceeds of the 
sales, or in the form of profits by virtue of the operations of any fiscal agency having 
these proceeds as its basis, should such measure be contemplated by Congress, would 
well deserve its consideration. Nor would such disposition of the proceeds of the sales 
in any manner prevent Congress, from time to time, from passing all necessary pre-emp- 
tion laws for the benefit of actual settlers, or from making any new arrangement as to the 
price of the public lands, which might in future be esteemed desirable. 

I beg leave particularly to call your attention to the accompanying report from the 
Secretary of War. Besides the present state of the war which has so long afflicted the 
Territory of Florida, and the various other matters of interest therein referred to, you 
will learn from it that the Secretary has instituted an inquiry into abuses, which promises 
to develope gross enormities in connection with Indian treaties which have been negotia- 
ted, as well as in the expenditures for the removal and subsistence of the Indians. He 
represents, also, other irregularities of a serious nature that have grown up in the practice 
of the Indian Department, which will require the appropriation of upwards of $200,000 
to correct, and which claim the immediate attention of Congress. 

In reflecting on the proper means of defending the country, we cannot shut our eyes 



408 TYLER. 

to the consequences which the introduction and use of the power of steam upon the ocean 
are likely to produce in wars between maritime states. We cannot yet see the extent to 
which this power may be applied in belligerent operations, connecting itself as it does 
with recent improvements in the science of gunnery and projectiles ; but we need have 
no fear of being left, in regard to these things, behind the most active and skilful of other 
nations, if the genius and enterprise of our fellow-citizens receive proper encouragement 
and direction from government. 

True wisdom would, nevertheless, seem to dictate the necessity of placing in perfect 
condition those fortifications which are designed for the protection of our principal cities 
and roadsteads. For the defence of our extended maritime coast, our chief reUance 
should be placed on our navy, aided by those inventions which are destined to recom- 
mend themselves to public adoption. But no time should be lost in placing our prucipal 
cities on the seaboard and the lakes in a state of entire security from foreign assault, Sep. 
arated as we are from the countries of the old world, and in much unaffected by their 
policy, we are happily relieved from the necessity of maintaining large standing armies in 
times of peace. The policy which was adopted by Mr. Monroe, shortly after the conclu- 
sion of the late war with Great Britain, of preserving a regularly organized staff, sufficient 
for the command of a large military force, should the necessity for one arise, is founded 
as well in economy as in true wisdom. Provision is thus made, upon filling up the rank 
and file, which can readily be done on any emergency, for the introduction of a system 
of discipline, both promptly and efficiently. All that is required in time of peace is to 
maintain a sufficient number of men to guard our fortifications, to meet any sudden con- 
tingency, and to encounter the first shock of war. Our chief reliance must be placed on 
the militia. They constitute the great body of national guards, and, inspired by an ardent 
love of country, will be found ready at all times and at all seasons to repair with alacrity 
to its defence. It will be regarded by Congress, I doubt not, at a suitable time, as one 
of its highest duties, to attend to their complete organization and discipline. 

By the report of the Secretary of the Navy, it will be seen that the state of the navy 
pension fund requires the immediate attention of Congress. By the operation of the act of 
the 3d of March, 1837, entitled " An act for the more equitable administration of the 
navy pension fund," that fund has been exhausted. It will be seen that there will be 
required for the payment of navy pensions, on the first of July next, $88,706 06, and on 
the first of January, 1842, the sum of $69,000. In addition to these sums, about $6,000 
will be required to pay arrears of pensions which will probably be allowed between the 
first of July and the first of January, 1842, making in the whole $163,706 06. To meet 
these payments, there is within the control of the department the sum of $28,040, leav- 
ing a deficit of $139,666 06. The pubhc faith requires that immediate provision should 
be made for the payment of these sums. 

In order to introduce into the navy a desirable efficiency, a new system of accountabil- 
ity may be found to be indispensably necessary. To mature a plan having for its object 
the accomplishment of an end so important, and to meet the just expectations of the coun- 
try, require more time than has yet been allowed to the Secretary at the head of that 
department. The hope is indulged that, by the time of your next regular session, meas- 
ures of importance, in connection with this branch of the public service, may be matured 
for your consideration. 

Although the laws regulating the Post Office Department only require from the officer 
charged with its direction to report at the usual annual session of Congress, the Postmas- 
ter-General has presented to me some facts connected with the financial condition of the 
department, which are deemed worthy the attention of Congress. By the accompanying 
report of that officer, it appears that the existing liabilities of that department, beyond the 
mean* of payment at its command, cannot be less than $500,000. As the laws organ- 
izing that branch of the public service confine the expenditure to its own revenues, 
deficiencies therein cannot be presented under the usual estimates for the expenses of the 
government. It must therefore be left to Congress to determine whether the moneys now 
due to contractors shall be paid from the public treasury, or whether that department shall 
continue under its present embarrassments. It will be seen by the report of the Postmas- 
ter-General, that the recent lettings of contracts in several of the states have been made 
at such reduced rates of compensation, as to encourage the belief that if the department 
was relieved from existing difficulties, its future operations might be conducted without 
any further call upon the general treasury. 



TYLER. 409 

The power of appointing to office is one of a character the most delicate and respon. 
eible. The appointing power is evermore exposed to be led into error. With anxious 
ftoUcitude to select the most trustworthy for official station, I cannot be supposed to pos- 
sess a personal knowledge of the qualifications of every applicant. I deem it therefore 
proper, in this most public manner, to invite, on the part of the Senate, a just scrutiny 
into the character and pretensions of every person whom I may bring to their notice in 
the regular form of a nomination for office. Unless persons every way trustworthy are 
employed in the public service, corruption and irregularity will inevitably follow. I shall, 
with the greatest cheerfulness, acquiesce in the decision of that body ; and, regarding it 
as wisely constituted to aid the Executive department in the performance of this delicate 
duty, I shall look to its " consent and advice" as given only in furtherance of the beet 
interests of the country. I shall also, at the earliest proper occasion, invite the attention 
of Congress to such measures as in my judgment will be best calculated to regulate and 
control the Executire power in reference to this vitally important subject. 

I shall also, at the proper season, invite your attention to the statutory enactments for 
the suppression of the slave trade, which may require to be rendered more efficient in 
their provisions. There is reason to believe that the traffic is on the increase. Whether 
such increase is to be ascribed to the abolition of slave labor in the British possessions in 
our vicinity, and an attendant diminution in the supply of those articles which enter into 
the general consumption of the world, thereby augmenting the demand from other quar- 
ters, and thus calling for additional labor, it were needless to inquire. The highest con- 
siderations of public honor, as well as the strongest promptings of humanity, require a 
resort to the most vigorous efforts to suppress the trade. 

In conclusion, I beg leave to invite your particular attention to the interests of this 
l>iStrict. Nor do I doubt but that, in a liberal spirit of legislation, you will seek to ad- 
vance its commercial as well as its local interests. Should Congress deem it to be its 
duty to repeal the existing sub-treasury law, the necessity of providing a suitable place 
of deposite for the public moneys which may be required within the District, must be 
apparent to all. 

I have felt it due to the country to present the foregoing topics to your consideration 
and reflection. Others, with which it might not seem proper to trouble you at an extra- 
ordinary session, will be laid before you at a future day. I am happy in committing the 
important aflfairs of the country into your hands. The tendency of public sentiment, I am 
pleased to believe, is towards the adoption, in a spirit of union and harmony, of such 
measures as will fortify the public interests. To cherish such a tendency of public opin- 
ion, is the task of an elevated patriotism. That differences of opinion as to the means 
of accomplishing these desirable objects should exist, is reasonably to be expected. Nor 
can all be made satisfied with any system of measures. But I flatter myself with the 
hope that the great body of the people will readily unite in support of those whose eflibrts 
spring from a disinterested desire to promote their happiness ; to preserve the federal and 
state governments within their respective orbits ; to cultivate peace with all the nations 
of the earth, on just and honorable grounds ; to exact obedience to the laws ; to intrench 
hberty and property in full security ; and, consulting thp most rigid economy, to abolish 
all useless expenses. 

JOHN TYLER. 

Washington, June 1, 1841. 

52 



JAMES K. POLK. 

James K. Polk is the eldest often children, was born in the county 
of Muhlenberg, North Carolina, on the second day of November, 1795, 
and is consequently now* in the fiftieth year of his age. His ancestral 
name was Pollock, but has, by a transition not unusual, assumed its pres- 
ent curtailed form. His ancestors, nearly a century and a half ago, em- 
igrated from Ireland to this country, and established themselves in Mary- 
land, where some of their descendants still reside. The branch of the 
family from which the President of the United States sprung, removed 
to the neighborhood of Cai'lisle, in Pennsylvania, and from thence to 
the western frontier of North Carolina, sometime before the commence- 
ment of the revolutionary war. Its connection with that eventful struggle 
is one of the most brilliant description. The great uncle of James K. 
Polk, Col. Thomas Polk, was the prime mover, in the noble part pur- 
sued by the inhabitants of 3Iuhlenberg county, when they publicly ab- 
solved themselves from their allegiance to the British crown, and issued a 
fornial manifesto of independence. The Alexanders, Chairman and 
Secretary of tlie famous meeting, as well as Dr. Ephraim Brevard, the 
author of the declaration itself, were also relatives of this family. In the 
contest for independence, several of Mr. Polk's relatives distinguished 
themselves, even to the peril of life. To be allied to such a people and 
lineage, is indeed a fit subject for honorable pride. Liberty does not 
frown upon the indulgence of a sentiment so natural. She does not reject 
the heritage of honor, while refusing to add to it, social or political dis- 
tinctions subversive of equal rights. The American people have always 
manifested an affectionate regard for those who bear the names of the 
heroes or martyrs of the revolution. They furnish not a proof of the 
alleged ingratitude of republics. The father of Mr. Polk was an un- 
pretending, unassuming fivrmer, who, thrown upon his own resources in 
early life, became the architect of his own fortunes. He was a warm 
supporter of Mr. Jeff'erson, and through life a firm and consistent repub- 
lican. In 1806 he removed to Tennessee, where he was among the first 
pioneers of a then wilderness, but now the most flourishing and populous 
portion of that State. In this region Mr. Polk still resides, so that he 
may be said, literally, to have grown with its growth and strengthened 
with its strength. The opportunities for instruction in this infant settle- 
ment, could not of course be great. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, 
and the still more formidable one, of a painful affliction, from which, after 
years of sufi*ering, he was finally relieved by a surgical operation — Mr. 
Polk acquired the elements of a good English education. From the 

* 1845. 



412 POLK. 

delicate nature of his constitution, his father determmed, much against 
the will of his son, to educate him for commercial pursuits ; and with 
this view, actually placed him in a merchant's counting-room. He re- 
mauied but a very short period in a position so distasteful and so adverse 
to his wishes. His constant and urgent appeals finally overcame the 
resistance of his father. He was, in 1813, placed first under the care 
of the Rev. Dr. Henderson, and subsequently, at the Academy of Mur- 
frecsborough, Tennessee, then under the direction of Mr. Samuel P. 
Black. In 1815 he entered in the University of North Carolina, and 
graduated in 1818 with the highest distinction of his class, and with the 
reputation of being the first scholar in both the mathematics and classics. 
Of the former science he was passionately fond, though equally distin- 
guished as a linguist. His coiu'se at college was marked by the same 
assiduity and studious aj)plication which have since characterized him. 
So carefully has Mr. Pcjlk avoided the pedantry of classical display, 
which is the false taste of our day and country, as almost to hide the ac- 
quisitions which distinguished his early career. His preference for tlie 
useful and substantial, indicated by his youthful passion for the mathe- 
matics, has made him select a style of elocution which would perhaps be 
deemed too plain by the shallow admirers of flashy declamation. 

Returning to Tennessee, from the State Avhicli is, in two senses, his 
alma mater, with health greatly impaired by laborious application, Mr. 
Polk, in 1819, commenced the study of the law, in the office of Senator 
Grundy, and late in 1820 was admitted to the bar. He commenced his 
professional career in Maury county, and from the connection of his 
family with its early settlement, pursued his calling with great advan- 
tages. But his success was due to his personal qualities, still more than 
to extrmsic advantages. His thorough academical preparation, his ac- 
curate knowledge of the law, liis readiness and resources in debate, his 
unwearied application to business, secured him, at once, full employ- 
ment, and in less than one year he was already a leading practitioner. 
Such prompt success in a profession, where tlie early stages are proverbi- 
ally slow and discouraging, falls to the lot of few. 

In 1823 Mr. Polk entered the political arena, being chosen to repre- 
sent his County in the State Legislature, by a heavy majority over the 
former incumbent. He was for two successive years, a member of that 
body, where his ability in debate, and talent for business, at once gave 
him reputation. In August, 1825, Mr. Polk, being then in his thirtieth 
year, was chosen to represent his district in Congress, and in the ensuing 
December, took his seat in that body, where he remained until 1838. 
From his early youth he was an unwavering, sterling republican. He 
ever regarded the Constitution of the United States as an instrument of 
specific and limited powers, and that is at the very foundation of the 
democratic creed. He took ground early against the constitutionality, 
as well as the expediency, of a National Bank; and in August, 1829, 
consequently several months before the appearance of General Jackson's 
first message, announced then his opinions in a published letter to his 
constituents. He has ever been opposed to an oppressive tariff protec- 



POLK. 413 

tiou and was at all times the strenuous advocate of a reduction of the 
revenue to the economical wants of the Government. 

When Mi\ Polk entered Congress, he was, with one or two excep- 
tions, the junior member of that body. He made his first speech in Con- 
gress in favor of the proposition to amend the Constitution in such a 
manner as to give the choice of President and Vice President immedi- 
ately and irreversibly to the People, and this address at once attracted 
tiie attention of the country by the force of his reasoning, the copiousness 
of its research, and the spirit of honest indignation by Avhich it was ani- 
mated. From this time Mr. Polk's history is inseparably interwoven 
with that of the House. He is prominently connected with every im- 
portant question, and upon every one, as by an unerring instinct of repub- 
licanism, took the soundest and broadest ground. During the whole pe- 
riod of General Jackson's administration, as long as he retained a seat 
on the floor, he was one of its leading supporters, and at times, and on 
certain questions of paramount importance, its chief reliance. In De- 
cember, 1827, two years after his entrance in the House, Mr. Polk was 
placed on the important Committee on Foreign Affairs, and some time 
after was appointed, in addition, chairman of the select committee to 
which was referred that portion of the President's message calling the 
attention of Congress to a probable accumulation of a surplus in the 
Treasury, after the anticipated extinguishment of the national debt. 

During the session of 1830, Mr. Polk distinguished himself by his 
manly and uncompromising course upon many important measures ; 
such as the " Maysville Road Bill," and the " Buffalo and New Or- 
leans Road Bill." 

In December, 1832, Mr. Polk was transferred to the Committee of 
Ways and Means, with 'which his connection has been so dfstinguished. 
At that session the Directors of the Bank of the United States were sum- 
moned to Washington, and examined on oath before that committee. A 
division of opinion resulted hi the presentation of two reports. That of 
the majfM-ity leaning in favor of the Bank, but admitting it had exceed- 
ed its lawful powers. Mr. Polk, in behalf of the minority, made a de- 
tailed report, communicating all the material circumstances, and pre- 
senting conclusions utterly adverse to the institution which had been the 
subject of inquiry. This arrayed against his re-election a powerful op- 
position, but, after a violent contest, Mr. Polk was re-elected by a ma- 
jority of over three thousand. 

In September, 1833, the President determined upon the bold measure 
of the removal of the deposites from the United States Bank, which 
was effected in the following month. This act produced much excite- 
ment throughout the country, and it was foreseen that a great and doubt- 
ful contest was about to ensue. At such a crisis it became important to have 
at the head of the Committee of Ways and Means a man of courage to 
meet, and firmness to sustain, the formidable shock. Such a man was 
found in Mr. Polk, and he proved himself equal to the occasion. Al- 
though opposed by such men as Mr. McDufiie, Adams and Binney, 
Mr. Polk, as leader of the opposition to the Bank, carried through and 



414 POLK. 

sustained the measures of the President ; and Mr. McDuffie, the distin- 
guished leader of the Bank cause in this conflict, bore testimony, in his 
conchiduig ren.arks, to the " boldness and manliness" with which Mr. 
Polk had assumed the only position which could be judiciously taken. 

Towards the close of the session of 1834, Mr. Stevenson resigned the 
Speaker's chair, as well as liis seat in the House. Mr. Polk was nom- 
inated by the Democratic party in the House to succeed him, but, in 
consequence of a division in their ranks, he was defeated. 

In 1835, Mr. Polk was elected Speaker of the House, and was again 
chosen at the following session. During the first session he presided 
more appeals were taken from his decision than had occurred in the 
whole period since the origin of the Government ; but he was uniformly 
sustained by the House, and by many of his political adversaries. 
Notwithstanding the violence with which he had been assailed. Con- 
gress passed, at the close of the session in 1837, a unanimous vote of 
thanks to its presiding officer, from whom it separated with the kind- 
est feelings ; and no man, now, could enjoy its confidence and friendship 
in a higher degree. His calmness and good temper had allayed the 
violence of opposition, in a station for which his quickness, coolness and 
sagacity, eminently qualified him. 

After leaving the House, Mr. Polk was elected Governor of the State 
of Tennessee, by an overwhelming majority, and filled that office for one 
term with ability and his usual firmness and promptitude of character; 
and, upon his term of office expiring, retired to private life, to enjoy the 
fruits of his early industry, and repose upon the laurels he had won in 
the National Councils. 

In 1844, Mr. Polk was nominated by the Democratic party as their 
candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Van Buren, Calhoun, Johnson, Cass, 
Buchanan, being also candidates for the nomination, the selection of 
Mr. Polk was flattering to his friends, and was considered as a mark of 
commendation for his faithful public services. After a bitter and despe- 
rately fought contest, Mr. Polk was elected President of the United 
States, by a handsome majority over Mr. Clay, his opponent, and was, 
on the 4th day of March, 1845, inducted into the Presidential Chair of 
office, when he promulgated the following / 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



Fellow-Citizens : 

Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and voluntary suffrages 
of my countrymen, to the most honorable and most responsible office on earth. I am 
deeply impressed with gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this dis- 
tinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors, I cannot 
disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter on the discharge of my official 
duties. 

If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of President of the 
United States, even in the infancy of the republic, distrusted their ability to discharge the 
duties of that exalted station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much 
younger and less endowed, now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that our 



POLK. 4ir» 

people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so great diversity of opin- 
ion pi-cvails in regard to the principles and policy which should characterize the adminis- 
tration of our government ? Well may the boldest fear, and the wisest tremble, when in- 
curring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and, in 
some degree, the hopes and the happiness of the whole human family. 

In assuming responsibilities so vast, I fervently invoke the aid of that Almighty Ruler of 
the universe, in whose hands are the destinies of nations and of men, to guard this heaven- 
favored land against the mischiefs which, withoutHis guidance, might arise from an unwise 
public policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain and direct 
me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence of this as- 
sembled multitude of my countrymen, to take upon myself the solemn obligation, " to the 
best of my ability, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

A concise enumeration of the piinciples which will guide me in the administrative policy 
of the government, is not only in accordance with the examples set me by all my predeces- 
sors, but is eminently befitting the occasion. 

The constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, 
the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union 
this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which 
I shall be directed. 

It will be my first care to administer the government in the true spirit of that instrument, 
and to assume no powers not expressly granted, or clearly implied in its terms. The gov- 
ernment of the United States is one of delegated and limited powers ; and it is by a strict 
adherence to the clearly granted powers, and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or 
unauthorized implied powers, that we have the only sure guaranty against the recurrence of 
those unfortunate collisions between the Federal and State authorities, which have occa- 
sionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system, and even threatened the perpetuity 
of our glorious Union. 

" To the States respectively, or to the people," have been reserved '• the powers not de- 
legated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States." Each 
State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government 
of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated autliority, is also a complete sove- 
reignty. While the General Government should abstain from the exercise of authority not 
clearly delegated to it, the States should bo equally careful that, in the maintenance of their 
rights, they do not overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most dis- 
tinguished of my predecessors mttached deserved importance to "the support of the State 
Governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our domestic 
^joncerns, and the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies ;" and to the " preser- 
vation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of 
our peace at home, and safety abroad." 

To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive management 
of our Foreign Affairs. Beyond that, it wields a few general enumerated powers. It does 
not force reform on the States. It leaves individuals, over whom it casts its protecting in- 
fluence, entirely free to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their 
mental and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and all the States; of every 
man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth ; of every religious sect, in 
their worship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience ; of every 
shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry ; of every art, trade and occupation, consistent 
with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the general happiness, prosperity and ad 
vancement of our country, which have been the offspring of Freedom, not of Power. 

This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government among men, 
ever devised by human minds, has been tested by its successful operation for more than lialf 
a century ; and, if preserved from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the one 
hand, and the exercise by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, 1 
fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come, and dispense the blessings of civil and 
religious liberty to distant generations. To effect objects so dear to every patriot, I shall 
devote myself with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most 
fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system, which consists in substi- 
tuting ihe mere discretion and caprice of the Executive, or of majorities in the legislative 
department of the Government, for powers which have been withheld from the Federal 
Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government, majorities rule ; but 



416 POLK. 

this right 13 not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination 
to the Constitution, and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to 
restrain majorities from oppressing minorities, or encroaching upon their just rights. Mi- 
norities have a right to appeal to the Constitution, as a shield against such oppression. 

That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be enjoyed alike by mi- 
norities and majorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon 
the acts of the Legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It 
arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional legislation ; invites re-consider- 
ation, and transfers questions at issue between the Legislative and Executive departments 
of the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When ju- 
diciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction, and 
the rights of all preserved and protected. 

The inestimable value of our federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this sys- 
tem of united and confederated States, our people are permitted, collectively and individu- 
ally, to seek their own happiness in their own way ; and the consequences have been most 
auspicious. Since the Union was formed, the number of States has increased from thirteen 
to twenty-eight ; two of these have taken their position as members of the confederacy within 
the last week. Our population has increased from three to twenty millions. New commu- 
nities and states are seeking protection under its i3egis, and multitudes from the Old World 
are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign sway, peace 
and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and inter- 
course have extended throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to 
accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's 
true interests, in developing his faculties and powers, and the capacity of nature to minister 
to his enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its inventions and discos'eries : and the hand 
is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives, not incompatible with the rights of a fel- 
low-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether 
native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal 
rights and equal protection. No union exists between church and state ; and perfect free- 
dom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds. 

These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our federal Union. To 
perpetuate them, it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achieve- 
ments of free minds and free hands, under the protection of this glorious Union ? No trea- 
son to mankind since the organization of society, would be equal in atrocity to that of him 
who would lift his hsmd to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human 
wisdom, which protects himself and his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free 
government, and involve his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish 
the fire of liberty which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions, and invites all 
the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say that error and wrong are com- 
mitted in the administration of the government, let him remember that nothing human can 
be perfect ; and that under no other system of government revealed by Heaven, or devised 
by man, has reason been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat error. Has the swords 
of despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in government, than enlight- 
ened reason ? Does he expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for 
our swarming millions than they now have under it ? Every lover of his country must shud 
der at the thought of the possibihty of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic 
sentiment, " Our federal Union — it must be preserved." To preserve it, the compromises 
which alone enabled our fathers to form a common constitution for the government and pro- 
tection of so many States and distinct communities, of such diversified habits, interests, and 
domestic institutions, must be sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or 
destroy these compromises, being terms of the compact of Union, can lead to none other 
than the most ruinous and disastrous consequences. 

It is a source of deep regret that, in some sections of our country, misguided persons have 
occasionally indulged in schemes of agitations, whose object is the destruction of domestic 
institutions existing in other sections — institutions which existed at the adoption of the Con- 
Btitution, and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that if it were possible for 
them to be successful in attaining their object, the dissolution of the Union, and the conse- 
quent destruction of our happy form of government, must speedily follow. 

I am happy to believe that at everv period of our existence as a nation, there has existed, 
aoid continues to exist, among the great mass of our people, a devotion to the Union of the 



POLK. 417 

States, which will shield and protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously 
contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion, the compromises of 
the Constitution must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and heart-burnings 
must be discountenanced ; and all should remember, that they are members of the same po- 
litical family, having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to the 
Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor monopolies, or the 
peculiar interests of sections or classes, must operate to the prejudice of the interests of their 
fellow-citizens, and should be avoided. If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved 
— if sectional jealousies and heart-burnings, be discountenanced — if our laws be just, and 
tlie ;!^overnment be practically administei-ed strictly within the limits of power prescribed to 
it — wo may discard all apprehensions for the safety of the Union. 

With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the Government, and the value 
of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the creation of those institutions and systems which, 
in their nature, tend to pervert it from its legitimate purposes, and make it the instrumenf 
of sections, classes, and individuals. We need no National Banks, or other extraneous iu 
stitutions, planted around the Government to control or strengthen it in opposition to the 
will of its authors. Experience has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of 
the public authorities, how impotent for good, and how powerful for mischief. 

Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal Government ; and I shall regard it to be m 
duty to recommend to Congress, and, as far as the Executive is concei-ned, to enforce by A\ 
the means within my power, the strictest economy in the expenditure of the public money, 
which may be compatible with the public interests. 

A National Debt has become almost an institution of European monarchies. It is view- 
ed, in some of them, as an essential prop to existing governments. Melancholy is the con 
dilion of that people whose government can be sustained only by a system which periodi- 
cally transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to the coffers of the few. Such a 
system is incompatible with the ends for which our Republican Government was instituted. 
Under a wise policy, the debts contracted in our Revolution, and during the war of 1812, 
have been happily extinguished. By a judicious application of the revenues, not required 
for other necessary purposes, it is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the 
circumstances of the last few years may be speedily paid off. 

I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the credit of the Genei-al 
Government of the Union, and that of many of the States. Happy would it be for the in- 
debted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously 
contracted. Although the Government of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral sense 
bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation of our compact of Union to, 
assume them, yet we cannot but feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet their pub 
lie liabilities, and pay ofT their just debts, at the earliest practicable period. That they 
will do so as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens, 
there is no reason to doubt. The sound, moral and honorable feeling of the people of the 
indebted States, cannot be questioned ; and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition 
on their part, as their ability returns, after a season of unexampled pecuniaiy embarrass- 
ment, to pay off all just demands, and to acquiesce in any reasonable measures to accom- 
plish that object. 

One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical administration of 
the Government, consists in the adjustment of our revenue laws, and the levy of the taxes 
necessary for the support of government. In the general proposition, that no more money 
shall be collected than the necessities of an economical administration shall require, all par- 
ties seem to acquiesce. Nor does there seem to be any material difference of opinion as to 
the absence of right in the government to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, 
or one occupation, for the mere profit of another. " Justice and sound policy forbid the 
federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cher- 
ish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country." 
I have heretofore declared to my fellow-citizens that, in "my judgment, it is the duty of the 
government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws, and all 
other means within its power, fair and just protection to all the great interests of the whole 
Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic aits, commerce, and navigation." 
T have also declared my opinion to be " in favor of a tarifl" for revenue," and that " in ad 
justing the details of such a tariff, I have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties 
a.s would produce the amount of revenue needed, and, at the same time, afford reasonable 



418 POLK 

incidental protection to our home industry ;" and that I was " opposed to a tariff for pro- 
tection merely, and not for revenue." 

The power to •' lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises," was an indispensable 
one to be conferred on the Federal Government, which, without it, would possess no means 
of providing for its own support. In executing this jiower, by levying a Tariff of duties for 
the support of Government, the raising of revenue should be the object, and protection the 
incideiU. To reverse this principle, and make 'protection the object, and revenue the 
incident, would be to inflict manifest injustice upon all other than the protected interests. 
In levying duties for revenue, it is doubtless proper to make such discriminations within the 
revenue principle, as will afford incidental protection to our home interests. Within the 
revenue limit, there is a discretion to discriminate ; beyond that limit, the rightful exercise 
of the power is not conceded. The incidental protection afforded to our home interests by 
discriminations within the revenue range, it is believed will be ample. In making discrim 
inations, all our home interests should, as far as practicable, be equally protected. The 
largest portion of our people are agriculturists. Others are employed in manufactures, com 
merce, navigation, and the mechanic arts. They are all engaged in their respective pur 
suits, and their joint labors constitute the National or home industry. To tax one branch 
of this home industry for the benefit of anotlier, would be unjust. N/) one of these interests 
can rightfully claim an advantage over the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing the 
others. All are equally entitled to the fostering care and protection of the Government. In 
exercising a sound discretion in levying discriminating duties within the limit prescribed, 
care should be taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few, at the ex- 
pense of the toiling millions, by taxing lowest the luxuries of life, or articles of superior qual- 
ity and high price, which can only be consumed by the vs'ealthy ; and highest the necessaries 
of life, or articles of coarse quality and low price, which the poor and great mass of our 
people must consume. The burdens of Government should, as far as practicable, be distri- 
buted justly and equally among all classes of our population. These general views, long 
enini tained on this subject, I have deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which 
conflicting interests of sections and occupations are supposed to exist, and a spirit of mutual 
concession and compromise in adjusting its details should be cherished by every part of our 
wide-spread country as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful acquiescence 
of all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our patriotic citizens in every part of the Union 
will readily submit to the payment of such taxes as shall be needed for the support of their 
Government, whether in peace or in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens 
as equally as possible among them. 

The republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union, to form a part 
of our confederacy, and enjoy with us the blessings of liberty, secured and guaranteed by our 
constitution. Texas was once a part of our country — was unwisely ceded away to a for- 
eign power — is now independent, and possesses an undoubted right to dispose of a part or 
the whole of her territory, and to merge her sovereignty, as a separate and independent State 
in ours. I congratulate my country that, by an act of the late Congi-ess of the United States, 
the assent of this government has been given to the re-union; and it only remains for 
the two countries to agree upon the terms, to consunmiate an object so important to both. 

I regard the question of Annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and 
Texas. They are independent powers, competent to contract ; and foreign nations have 
no rigVit to interfere with them, or to take exceptions to their re-union. Foreign powers do 
not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union is a confedera- 
tion of independent States, whose policy is peace with each other and all the world. To 
enlarge its limits is to extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and in- 
creasing millions. The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Govern- 
ment. While the Chief Magistrate and the poi)ular branch of Congress are elected for 
short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must, in their own persons, bear all the 
burdens and miseries of war, our Government cannot be otherwise than pacific. Foreign 
powers should, therefore, look on the Annexation of Texas to the United States, not as the 
conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence, but as the peace- 
ful acquisition of a territory once her own, by adding another member to our confederation 
with the consent of that member — thereby diminishing the chances of war, and opening to 
them new and ever-increasing markets for their products. 

To Texas the re-union is important, because the strong protecting arm of our Government 
d be extended over her, and the vast resources of her fertile soil and genial climate 



POLK. 419 

would be speedily developed, while the safety of New-Orleans, and of our whole south- 
western frontier against hostile aggression, as well as the interests of the whole Union, 
would be promoted by it. 

In the earlier stages of our National existence, the opinion prevailed with some, that our 
system of confederated States could not operate successfully over an extended territory, and 
serious objections have, at different times, been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. 
These objections were earnestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience has 
shown that they were not well founded. The title of numerous Indian tribes to vast tracts 
of country has been extinguished. New States have been admitted into the Union. New 
Territories have been created, and our jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our 
population has expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. As our bounda- 
ries have been enlarged, and our agricultural population has been spread over a large sur- 
face, our federative system has acquired additional strength and security. It may well be 
doubted whether it would not be in greater danger of overthrow, if our present population 
were confined ^o the comparatively narrow limits of the original thirteen States, than it is, 
now that they are sparsely settled over a more expanded territory. It is confidently believ- 
ed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits ; 
and that, as it shall be extended, the bonds of our Union, so far from being weakened, will 
become stronger. 

None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace, if Texas remains an in- 
dependent State, or becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful 
than herself. Is there one among our citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with 
Texas, to occasional wars, which so often occur between bordering independent nations? 
Is there one who would not prefer free intercourse with her, to high duties on all our pro- 
ducts and manufactures which enter our ports or cross her frontiers ? Is there one who 
would not prefer an unrestricted communication with her citizens, to the frontier obstruc- 
tions which must occur if she remains out of the Union .' Whatever is good or evil in the 
.ocal institutions of Texas, will remain her own, whether annexed to the United States or 
not. None of the present States will be responsible for them, any more than they are for 
the local institutions of each other. They have confederated together for certain specified 
objects. Upon the same principle that they would refuse to form a perpetual union with 
Texas because of her local institutions, our forefathers would have been prevented from 
forming our present Union. Perceiving no valid objection to the measure, and many rea- 
sons for its adoption, vitally affecting the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both coun- 
tries, I shall, on the broad principle which formed the basis and produced the adoption of 
our constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional policy, endeavor, by all constitu- 
tional, honorable, and~appropriate means, to consummate the expressed will of the people 
and government of the United States, by the re-annexation of Texas to our Union at the 
earliest practicable period. 

Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain, by all constitutional 
means, the right of the United States to that portion of our Territory which lies beyond the 
Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country of the Oregou ^s " clear and unquestionable ;" 
and already are our people preparing to perfect that title, by occupying it with their wives 
and children. But eighty years ago our population was confined on the West by the ridge 
of the AUeghanies. Within that period — within the lifetime, I might say, of some of my 
hearers — our people, increasing to many millions, have filled the eastern valley of the Mis- 
sissippi; adventurously ascended the Missouri to its head springs ; and are already engaged 
in establishing the blessings of self-government in valleys, of which the rivers flow to the 
Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To 
us belongs the duty of protecting them, adequately, wherever they may be upon our soil. 
The jurisdiction of our laws, and the benefits of our republican institutions, should be ex 
tended over them in the distant regions which they have selected for their homes. The in 
criL'asing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the States, of which the formation in that 
part of oui' territory cannot be long delayed, within the sphere of our federative Union. In 
tlie meantime, every obligation imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations, should be 
sacredly respected. 

In the management of our foreign relations, it will be my aim to observe a careful respect 
for the rights of other nations, while our own will be the subject of constant watchfulness. 
Equal and exact justice should characterise all our intercourse with foreign countries. All 
alliances having a tendency to jeopard the welfare and honor of our countiy, or sacrifice 



420 POLK. 

any one of the national interests, will be studiously avoided ; and yet no opportunity will be 
lost to cultivate a favorable understanding with foreign governments, by which our naviga- 
tion and commerce may be extended, and the ample products of our fertile soil, as well as 
the manufactures of our skilful artizans, find a ready market and remunerative prices in for- 
eign countries. 

In taking " care that the laws be faithfully executed," a strict performance of duty will 
be exacted from all public officers. From those officers, especially, who are charged with 
the collection and disbursement of the public revenue, will prompt and rigid accountability 
be required. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to account for the moneys intrust- 
ed to them, at the times and in the manner required by law, will, in every instance, termi- 
nate the official connexion of such defaulting officer vvitli the government. 

Although, in our country, the chief magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a 
party, and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet, in his official action, he should 
not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States. While- 
he executes the laws with impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faith- 
fully carries out in the Executive Department of the Government the principles and policy 
of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful tliat our fellow-citizens who 
have differed from him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions 
and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regai'd. 

Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the co-ordinate departments of the 
government in conducting our public affairs, I enter upon the discharge of the high duties 
which have been assigned me by the people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being 
who has watched over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present 
hour, to continue His gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue to be a prosper- 
ous and happy people. 



LIVES OF THE SIGNERS. 



SAMUEL ADAMS. 

The memories of few men will perhaps be cherished', by their posterity 
with a more jealous and grateful admiration than those of the patriotic 
individuals, who first signed the political independence of our country. 
They hazarded by the deed not only their lands and possessions, but their 
personal freedom and their lives ; and when it is considered that most 
of them were in the vigor of existence, gifted with considerable fortunes, 
and with all the offices and emoluments at the disposal of royalty within 
their reach, the sacrifice which they risked appears magnified, and their 
disinterested patriotism more worthy of remembrance. Although many 
of them can rest their sole claim to lasting distinction upon the one great 
act with which they were adventitiously connected, still their lives present 
a valuable transcript of the times in which they lived, and afford exam- 
ples of inflexible honesty, heroic decision, and noble energy of mind, 
quite as interesting as any records of the eccentricities of genius, or the 
grasping efforts of ambition. 

Not one of the least ardent and uncompromising asserters of the rights 
and liberties of his country, was the subject of our present sketch — 
Sabittel Adams. This gentleman, descended from a respectable family, 
which emigTated to America with the first settlers of the land, was born 
at Quincy, in Massachusetts, September 22d, 1722. In 1736 he became 
a member of Harvard College, and took his degree of Master in 1743. 
On this latter occasion, he proposed the following question, in which he 
maintained the affirmative : " Whether it be lawful to resist the supreme 
magistrate, if the commonwealth cannot be otherwise preserved ?" 

On quitting the university, he commenced the study of the law ; but soon 
afterwards, at the request of his mother, became a clerk in the counting- 
house of Thomas Gushing, at that time an eminent merchant. The 
genius of Adams was not suited to commercial pursuits. His devotion 
to politics, and his interest in the welfare of his country, diverted his 
attention from his own business concerns ; and he retired from his mer- 
cantile connexions poorer by far than when he entered into them. In 
1763, when a committee was appointed by the people of Boston to 
remonstrate against the taxation of the colonies by the British ministry, 
the instructions of that committee were drawn by Mr. Adams, and gave 
a powerful proof of his ability and zeal. He soon became an influential 
leader in the popular assemblies, and was bold in denouncing the oppres- 
sive acts of the mother country. 

In 1765, he was chosen a representative to the General Court of the 
State, from the town of Boston. Here he soon made himself conspicuous, 
and became clerk of the legislative body. About this time he was the 
author of several spirited essays, and plans of resistance to the exactions 



2 SAMUEL ADAMS. 

of the British ministry. He suggested the first Congress at New York, 
which was a step to the establishment of a Continental Congress, ten 
years after. 

In 1770, two regiments of troops were quartered in the town of Bos- 
ton, apparently to superintend the conduct of the inhabitants. This 
measure roused the public indignation to the utmost, and soon gave 
occasion to a quarrel between a party of soldiers and citizens, in which 
eleven of the latter were killed or wounded, by a guard, under the com- 
mand of Captain Preston. This rencontre, which is well known under 
the name of the " Boston Massacre," and will long remain memorable as 
the first instance of bloodshed between the British and Americans, did 
not tend to allay the excitement caused by the presence of the troops. 
On the following morning a meeting of the citizens was called, and 
Samuel Adams first rose to address the assembly. His style of eloquence 
was bold and impressive, and few could exercise a more absolute control 
over the passions of a multitude. A committee, of which he was one, 
was chosen to wait upon Governor Hutchinson, with a request that the 
troops might be instantly removed. The Governor replied that the troops 
were not under his command : but Adams, with his usual intrepidity, 
would brook no prevarication or excuse, and declared that if he permitted 
them to remain, it would be at his peril. The Governor, alarmed at the 
personal danger which threatened him, finally consented to the demand, 
and further hostilities were, for a time, suspended. 

The injudicious management of his private affairs rendered Mr. Adams 
poor. When this was known in England it was proposed to bribe him, 
by the gift of some lucrative office. A suggestion of the kind being 
made to Governor Hutchinson, he replied, that " such was the ob- 
stinacy and inflexible disposition of the man, that he could never be 
conciliated by any office or gift whatever." A higher compliment could 
not have been paid him. The offer however was made, it is said, and 
rejected. About the year 1773, Governor Gage renewed the experiment. 
Colonel Fenton waited upon Mr. Adams, with the assurance of Governor 
Gage, that any benefit he might ask would be conferred on him, on con- 
dition that he would forsake the popular faction ; while, at the same time, 
significant threats were thrown out of the consequences which might 
ensue, if he persisted in his opposition to the measures of the ministry. 
The reply of the undaunted patriot was characteristic : " Go tell Governor 
Gage," said he, " that my peace has long since been made with the King 
of kings; and that it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer 
to insult tlie feelings of an already exasperated people." 

Under the irritation produced by this answer, Governor Gage issued a 
proclamation, which comprehended the following language : " I do hereby, 
in his majesty's name, offer and promise his most gracious pardon to all 
persons, who shall forthwith lay down their arms, and return to the duties 
of peaceable subjects : excepting only from the benefits of such pardon, 
Samuel Adams, and John Hancock, whose offences are of too flagitious 
a nature to admit of any other consideration but that of condign punish, 
ment." 

Mr. Adams was a member of the first Continental Congress, whi*' ^ 



JOSIAH BARTLETT. 3 

assembled in Philadelphia, in 1774 ; and he remained an active member of 
that body until the year 1781. During this period, he Avas one of the 
warmest advocates for the declaration of American independence. After 
that declaration had been irrevocably adopted, and when the subsequent 
gloom which overspread the land had depressed the spirits of the most ar- 
dent advocates of liberty, the firmness and enthusiasm of Mr. Adams were 
unchanged. His example contributed in a high degree to inspire his coun- 
trymen with a confidence of their final success. The following encomium 
wpon himisfrom a work upon the American rebellion, by Mr. Galloway, 
published in England, in 1780 : " He eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, 
thinks much, and is most indefatigable in the pursuit of his object. It was 
this man, who, by his superior application, managed at once the factions 
in Congress at Philadelphia, and the factions of New England." 

In 1781, Mr. Adams retired from Congress: but having already been 
a member of the Convention which formed the Constitution of his native 
State, he was placed in the Senate, and for several years presided over 
that body. In 1789, he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, in which office 
he continued till 1794 ; when, upon the death of Hancock, he was chosen 
Governor, and was annually re-elected till 1797, Avhen he retired from 
public life. He died October 2d, 1803, at the advanced age of eighty- 
two. 

In his person, Mr. Adams was only of the middle size, but his counte- 
nance indicated great decision of purpose and an energetic mind. He 
was a sincere and practical Christian ; and the last production of his 
pen was in favor of Christian truth. His writings were voluminous, 
but as they chiefly related to the temporary politics of the day, few of 
them remaiw. He always manifested a singular indifference to pecuniary 
considerations. He was poor while he lived; and, it has been said, that 
had not the death of an only son relieved the poverty of his latter days, 
Samuel Adams would have had to claim a burial from private charity, 
or at the public expense. 



JOSIAH BARTLETT. 

JosiAH Bartlett, Governor of New Hampshire, and the first from 
that State who signed the Declaration of Independence, was born in Ames- 
bury, Massachusetts, in 1729. Without the advantages of a coiiegiate 
education, but possessing a competent knowledge of the Greek and Latin 
languages, he commenced the study of medicine at the age of sixteen. 
After devoting himself for five years to the acquisition of the necessary 
knowledge and experience, he commenced the practice of his profession 
at Kingston, in the year 1750. Here he soon obtained very considerable 
reputation, and introduced many efficacious changes in the treatment of 
several diseases. 

In the year 1765, Doctor Bartlett was elected to the Legislature of the 
province of New Hampshire, from the town of Kingston. In his legis- 



4 JOSIAH BARTLETT. 

lative pacity, he was a determined opposer of the mercenary viows of 
the royal Governor, John Wentworth, who, desiring to conciliate him to 
his interest, appointed him justice of the peace. This, though a trivial 
distinction, was a token of the Governor's respect for his talents and 
influence. Doctor Bartlett accepted the appointment, but continued firm 
in his opposition. His attachment to the patriotic side, and the spirit 
with which he resisted the royal exactions, soon afterwards produced his 
dismissal from the commission of justice of the peace, as also from a 
command which he held in the militia. 

In 1774, a Convention was convoked at Exeter, for the purpose of 
choosing deputies to the Continental Congress, which was to meet at 
Philadelphia. In this Convention, Doctor Bartlett, and John Pickering, 
a lawj-er of Portsmouth, were appointed delegates to Congress ; but the 
former, having a little previously lost his house bj'- fire, was obliged to 
decline theMionor. The latter gentleman wishing likewise to be excused, 
others were chosen in their stead. From this time the political difficul- 
ties in New Hampshire increased. At length Governor Wentworth found 
it expedient to retire on board a man of war then lying in the harbor of 
Portsmouth ; and soon after issued his proclamation, adjourning the State 
Assembly till the following April. This act, however, was disregarded, 
and soon terminated the royal government in New Hampshire, after it 
had existed there for a period of ninety years. 

In September, 1775, Doctor Bartlett, who had been elected to the Con- 
tinental Congress, took his seat in that body. Here having largely 
participated in an unwearied devotion to business, his health was conside- 
rably impaired : but in a second election, the ensuing year, he was again 
chosen a delegate to the same body. He was present on the memorable 
occasion of taking the vote on the question of a declaration of indepen- 
dence. On putting the question, it was agreed to begin with the 
northernmost colony. Doctor Bartlett, therefore, had the honor of being 
the first to vote for, and the first after the President, to sign the Declaration 
of Independence. 

In August, 1778, a new election taking place, Doctor Bartlett was 
again chosen a delegate to Congress. He continued at Philadelphia, 
however, but a small part of the session ; and his domestic concerns 
requiring his attention, he resided the remaining part of his life in New 
Hampshire. In 1779, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of 
Common Pleas. In 1782, he became an Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court, and in 1788, was advanced to the head of the bench. Doctor Bart- 
lett was a member of the Convention which adopted the present Consti- 
tution of the State ; and by his zeal greatly aided its ratification. In 
1789, he was elected a Senator to Congress ; but his age and infirmities 
induced him to decline the honor. In 1793 he was elected first Governor 
of the State, Avhich ofiice he filled A^dth his usual fidelity and good sense, 
until the infirm state of his health obliged him to resign, and retire wholly 
from public life. He did not remain long, however, to enjoy the repose 
which he coveted ; but died on the 19th of May, 1795, in the sLxty-sixth 
year of his age. 

The patriotism of this eminent man was of a pure and highly disinte* 



CARTER BRAXTON. 



vested nature He rose to distinction unaided by family influence or 
:»arty coiinexi )ns ; and maintained through life a reputation for strict 
'ntegrity, great penetration of mind, and considerable abilities. 



CARTER BRAXTON. 



Carter Braxton was born in Newington, Virginia, on the 10th of 
September, 1736. His father was a wealthy planter, and his mother 
the daughter of Robert Carter, who was for some time a member, and 
the President of the King's council. 

Carter Braxton was liberally educated at the college of William and 
Mary ; and on his father's death, he became possessed of a considerable 
fortune, consisting principally of land and slaves. At the early age of 
nineteen, he received a large accession to his estate by marriage. But 
having the misfortune to lose his wife, he soon after embarked for Eng- 
land, with the view of improving himself by travel. He returned to 
America in 1760; and the following year was married to a daughter of 
Richard Corbin, of Lannerville, by whom he had sixteen children. Mr. 
Braxton did not study any profession, but became a gentleman planter, 
and lived in a style of hospitality and splendor, which was not incom- 
mensurate with his means. Upon his return from Europe, he was called 
to a seat in the House of Burgesses, where he was characterized for his 
patriotic zeal and firmness, in all the duties which he was called upon to 
discharge. 

In 1775, Mr. Braxton was elected a delegate to Congress. In that 
body he soon after took his seat, and was present on the occasion of 
signing the Declaration of Independence. In June, 1776, the Conven- 
tion of Virginia reduced the number of their delegates in Congress, and, 
in consequence, he was omitted. Mr. Braxton was a member of the 
first General Assembly, under the republican Constitution, which met at 
Williamsburg. Here he had the honor of receiving, in connexion with 
Thomas Jefferson, an expression of the public thanks for the " diligence 
ability, and integrity, with which they executed the important trust 
reposed in them, as delegates in the general Congress." 

In 1786, he became a member of the Council of State, which office 
he held until the 30th of March, 1791. After an interval of a few 
years, during which he occupied a seat in the House of Delegates, he 
was re-elected into the Executive Council. He died on the 10th of 
October, 1797, by means of an attack of paralysis. 

Mr. Braxton was a gentleman of a polished mind, of considerable 
conversational powers, and respectable talents. His latter days were 
unfortunately clouded by pecuniary embarrassments, caused by the 
miscarriage of his commercial speculations, and by several vexatious 
lawsuits. Of his numerous family, but one daughter, it is believed, 
survive.'. 



CHARLES CARROLL. 

Charles Carroll was a descendant of Daniel Carroll, an Irish gen- 
t'feman, who emigrated from England to America about the year 1689. 
He settled in the province of Maryland, where, a few years after, he 
received the appointment of Judge, and Register of the land office, and 
became agent for Lord Baltimore. 

Charles Carroll, the father of the subject of the present sketch, was 
born in 1702. His son, Charles Carroll, surnamed of Carrollton, was 
born September 8, 1737, O. S. at Annapolis, in the province of Mary- 
land. 

At the age of eight years, he was sent to France for the purpose of 
obtaining an education. He was placed at a college of English Jesuits, 
at St. Omer's, where he remained for six years. Afterwards he staid 
some time at Rheims, whence he was removed to the college of Louis 
le Grand. On leaving college, he entered upon the study of the civil 
law, at Bourges ; from which place he returned to Paris, where he re- 
mained till 1757, in which year he removed to London, and commenced 
the study of law. He returned to America in 1764, an accomplished 
scholar, and an accomplished man. Although he had lived abroad, and 
inight naturally be supposed to have imbibed a predilection for the mo- 
larchical institutions of Europe, he entered with great spirit into the 
controversy between the colonies and Great Britain, Avhich, about the 
time of his arrival, was beginning to assume a most serious aspect. 

A few years following the repeal of the Stamp Act, the violent ex- 
citement occasioned by that measure, in a degree subsided throughout 
all the colonies. In this calmer state of things the people of Maryland 
participated. But about the year 1771, great commotion was excited in 
that province, in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of Governor Eden 
and his council, touching the fees of the civil officers of the Colonial 
Government. 

The controversy which grew out of this, became exceedingly spirited. 
It involved the great principles of the revolution. Several writers of 
distinguished character enlisted themselves on different sides of the 
question. Among these writers, no one was more conspicuous than Mr. 
Carroll. The natural consequence of his firmness in defence of the 
rights of the people was, that great confidence Avas reposed in him on 
their part, and ho was looked up to as one who was eminently qualified 
to lead in the great struggle which was approaching between the colo- 
nies and the parent country. 

An anecdote is related of Mr. Carroll, which will illustrate his influ- 
ence with the people of Maryland. By a resolution of the delegates of 
Maryland, on the 22d day of June, 1774, the importation of tea was 
prohibited. Sometime after, however, a vessel arrived at Annapolis, 
having a quantity of this article on board. This becoming known, the 
people assembled in great multitudes, to take effectual measures to pre- 
vent its being landed. At length the excitement became so high, that 
the personal safety of the captain of the vessel became endangered. In 



CHARLES CARROLL. 7 

this state of things, the friends of the captain made application to Mr. 
Carroll, to interpose his influence with the people in his hehalf. The 
public indignation was too great to be easily allayed. This Mr, Carroll 
perceived, and advised the captain and his friends, as the only probable 
means of safety to himself, to set fire to the vessel, and ourn it to the 
water's edge. This alternative was indeed severe ; but, as it was ob- 
viously a measure of necessity, the vessel was drawn out, her sails were 
set, her colors unfurled, in which attitude the fire was applied to her, 
and, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, she was con- 
s\imed. This atonement was deemed satisfactory, and the captain was 
no farther molested. 

In the early part of 1776, Mr. Carroll, whose distinguished exertions 
in Maryland had become extensively known, was appointed by Congress, 
in connexion with Dr. Franklin and Samuel Chase, on a commission to 
proceed to Canada, to persuade the people of that province to relinquish 
their allegiance to the crown of England, and unite with the Americans 
in their struggle for independence. 

In the discharge of their duties, the commissioners met with unexpect- 
ed difficulties. The defeat and death of Montgomery, together with the 
compulsion which the American troops found it necessary to exercise, in 
obtaining the means of support in that province, conspired to diminish 
the ardor of the Canadians in favor of a union with the colonies, and 
even, at length, to render them hostile to the measure. To conciliate 
their affections, and to bring to a favorable result the object of their mis- 
sion, the commissioners employed their utmost ingenuity and influence. 
They issued their proclamations, in which they assured the people of the 
disposition of Congress to remedy the temporary evils, which the inhabi- 
tants suffered in consequence of the presence of the American troops, so 
soon as it should be in their power to provide specie, and clothing, and 
provisions. A strong tide, however, was now setting against the Ameri- 
can colonies, the strength of which was much increased by the Roman 
Catholic priests, who, as a body, had always been opposed to any con- 
nexion with the United Colonies. Despairing of accomplishing the 
wishes of Congress, the commissioners at length abandoned the object, 
and returned to Philadelphia. 

The gTeat subject of independence was, at this time, undergoing a dis- 
cussion in the hall of Conrxess. The Maryland delegation, in that body, 
had been instructed by theii Convention to refuse their assent to a declara- 
tion of independence. On returning to Maryland, Mr. Carroll resumed 
his seat in the Convention, and, with the advocates of a declaration of 
independence, urged the withdrawal of the above instructions, and the 
granting of power to their delegates to unite in such a declaration. The 
friends of the measure had at length the happiness, on the 2Sth of June, 
of procuring a new set of instructions, which secured the vote of the 
important province of Maryland in favor of the independence of 
America. 

On the same day on which the great question was decided in Congress, 
in favor of a declaration of independence, Mr. Carroll was elected a dele« 



8 CHAELES CARROLL. 

gate to that body from Maryland, and accordingly took his seat on the 
eighteenth of the same month. 

Although not a member of Congress at the time the question of a de- 
claration of independence was settled, Mr. Carroll had the honor of 
greatly contributing to a measure so auspicious to the interests of his 
country, by assisting in procuring the withdrawal of the prohibiting in- 
structions, and the adoption of a new set, by which the Maryland dele- 
gates found themselves authorized to vote for independence. He had 
the honor, also, of affixing his signature to the declaration on the second 
of August, at which time the members generally signed an engrossed 
copy, which had been prepared for that purpose. 

A signature to the declaration, was an important step for every in- 
dividual member of Congress. It exposed the signers of it to the con- 
fiscation of their estates, and the loss of life, should the British arms 
prove victorious. Few men had more at stake in respect to property 
than Mr. Carroll, he being considered the richest individual in the colo- 
nies. But wealth was of secondary value in his estimation, in com- 
parison with the rights and liberties of his country. When asked 
whether he would annex his name, he replied, "most willingly," and 
seizing a pen, instantly subscribed " to this record of glory." " There 
go a few millions," said some one who watched the pen as it traced the 
name of "Charles Carroll, of CarroUton," on the parchment. Millions 
would indeed have gone, for his fortune was princely, had not success 
crowned the American arms, in the long fought contest. 

Mr. Carroll was continued a member of Congress until 1778, at which 
time he resigned his seat in that body, and devoted himself more par- 
ticularly to the interests of his native State. He had served in her Con- 
vention in 1776, in the latter part of which year he had assisted in draft- 
ing her Constitution. Soon after, the new Constitution went into opera- 
tion, and Mr. Carroll was chosen a member of the Senate of Maryland. 
In 1781 -he was re-elected to the same station, and in 1788, on the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution, was chosen to the Senate of the 
United States. 

In 1791, Mr. Carroll relinquished his seat in the National Senate, and 
was again called to the Senate of his native State. This office he con- 
tinued to hold until 1804, at which time the democratic party was suc- 
cessful in electing their candidate, to the exclusion of this long tried and 
faithful patriot. At this time, Mr. Carroll took leave of public life, and 
sought in retirement the quiet enjoyment of his family circle. 

Since the date of his retirement from public office, few incidents have 
occurred in the life of this worthy man, which demand particular notice. 
Like a peaceful stream, his days glided along, and continued to be 
lengthened out, till the generation of illustrious men, with whom he 
acted on the memorable fourth of July, 1776, had all descended to the 
tomb. He died in 1832. 

" These last thirty years of his life," says a recent writer, " have passed 
away in serenity and happiness, almost unparalleled in the history of 
man. He has enjoyed, as it were, an Indian summer of existence, a 
tranquil and lovely period, when the leaves of the forest are richly va- 



CHARLES CARROLL. 9 

negated, but not yet seared ; when the parent bird and the spring nest- 
ling are of the same flock, and move on equal wing ; when the day of 
increase and the day of the necessity of provisions are gone ; when the 
fruits of the earth are abundant, and the lakes of the woods are smooth 
and joyous as if reflecting the bowers of Eden. Such an Indian summer 
has this patriot enjoyed : his life has been thrice, yea, four times blessed ; 
blessed in his birth and education, in his health, in his basket, and in his 
store ; blessed in his numerous and honorable progeny, which extend to 
several generations ; blessed in the protracted measure of his days, in 
which have been crowded the events of many centuries ; and blessed in 
the wonderful prosperity of his country, whose population has since his 
birth increased from nine hundred thousand souls to more than twelve 
millions, enjoying the blessings of freemen. It is, perhaps, from the 
fact, that the world think it quite enough for one mortal that he should 
be virtuous, prosperous, and enjoy a green .old age, that an analysis of 
his intellectual powers, or a description of his rare attainments, has sel- 
dom been attempted ; but talents and attainments he had, that made him 
one of the most successful of the business men of the momentous period 
in which he lived — a period when that which the head conceived the 
hands were ready to execute. There were too few at that time, and 
those too zealous, to make the proper division of labor. The senator 
armed for the field, and the soldier met with the Conscript Fathers." 

" Mr. Carroll was an orator. His eloquence was of the smooth, gentle, 
satisfactory kind, delighting all, and convincing many. It is not pre- 
tended that, like John Adams, he came dowTi upon his hearers as with 
the thunder-blast from Sinai, raising the tables of independence on high, 
and threatening in his wrath to break them if they were not received by 
the people ; nor that, like Dickinson, he exhausted rhetoric and metaphy- 
sics to gain his end, and was forever striving to be heard ; but Carroll 
came to his subject well informed, thoroughly imbued with its spirit, and 
with happy conceptions and graceful delivery, and with chaste and deli- 
cate language, he, without violence, conquered the understandings, and 
led captive the senses of his hearers. All was natural, yet sweet and 
polished as education could make it. He never seemed fatigued with 
his labors, nor faint with his exertions. His blood and judgment were 
so well commingled, that his highest efforts were as easy and natural as 
if he had been engaged in the course of ordinary duties. This happy 
faculty still continues with the patriarch, for his conversation has now 
that elegant vivacity and delicacy that characterized the sage Nestor of 
elder times, whose words fell like vernal snows, as he spake to the 
people. 

" His serenity, and in no small degree, perhaps, his longevity, may be 
owing to the permanency of his principles. In early life he founded his 
political creed on the rights of man, and reposing his faith in the religion 
of his fathers, he has felt none of those vacillations and changes so com- 
mon in times of political or religious agitations. It were good for the 
nation that he should long continue among us, for in his presence all 
party feuds are hushed ; and the demagogue, accustomed to vociferate 
elsewhere, in his vanity to be heard, talks not above his breath when the 



10 CHARLES CARROLL. 

aged patriot is near. In a republic where titles are not known, we ought 
to make a peerage of talents, virtues, patriotism, and age, that every 
youth may learn to admire, respect, and imitate the wise and good. 
With all our wishes for his stay here on earth, the patriarch must soon 
be gathered to his fathers, and his name given to the historian and the 
poet. The bard shall then strike his harp and sing, ' in strains not light 
nor melancholy,' but with admiration, touched with religious hope. 

' Full of years and honors, through the gate 
Of painless slumber he retired. 
And as a river pure 

Meets in its coiu-se a subterraneous void, 
Then dips his silver head, again to rise, 
And rising glides through fields and meadows new, 
So hath Oileus in those happy climes, 
"Where joys ne'er fade, nor the soul's powers decay, 
But youth and spring eternal bloom." 

The name of Carroll is the only one on the Declaration to which the 
residence of the signer is appended. The reason why it was done in 
this case, is understood to be as follows: — The patriots who signed that 
document, did it, almost literally, with ropes about their necks, it being 
generally supposed that they would, if unsuccessful, be hung as rebels. 
When Carroll had signed his name, some one at his elbow remarked, 
" You'll get clear — there are several of that name — they will not know 
which to take." " Not so," replied he, and immediately added, "ofOar- 
rollton." 

In 1827, the Editor of the Philadelphia National Gazette published a 
biography of Mr. Carroll, which appeared in the American Quarterly 
Review. He records the following fact : 

In 1825, one of Mr. Carroll's grand-daughters was married to the Mar- 
quis of Wellesley, then Viceroy of Ireland ; and it is a singular circum- 
stance that one hundred and forty years after the first emigration of her 
ancestors to America, this lady should become vice-queen of the country 
from which they fled, at the summit of a system which a more immedi- 
ate ancestor had risked every thing to destroy ; or, in the energetic and 
poetical language of Bishop England, " that in the land from which 
his father's father fled in fear, his daughter's daughter now reigns as 
queen." 

From the same publication, it appears that Mr. Carroll, some years 
before our revolutionary war, -wrote to a member of the British Parlia- 
ment as follows : 

" Your thousands of soldiers may come, but they will be masters of 
the spot only on which they encamp. They will find nought but ene> 
mie? before and around them. If we are beaten on the plains, we will 
retreat to the mountains and defj'- them. Our resources will increase 
with our difficulties. Necessity will force us to exertion : until tired of 
combating in vain, against a spirit which victory cannot subdue, your 
armies will evacuate our soil, and your country retire, an immense loser, 
from the contest. No, sir — we have made up our minds to abide the 
issue of the approaching struggle ; and though much blood may be spil- 
led, we have no doubt of our ultimate success." 



CHARLES CARROLL. 11 

His whole career, says Mr. Walsh, public and piivate, suited the dig- 
nity of his distinctive appellation — the Surviving- Signer. He was 
always a model of regularity in conduct and sedateness in judgment. 
In natural sagacity, in refinement of tastes and pleasures, in unatTected 
habitual courtesy, in vigilant observation, vivacity of spirit and tone, 
susceptibility of domestic and social happiness in the best forms, he had 
but few equals during the greater part of his bright and long existence. 
The mind of Mr. Carroll was highly cultivated ; he fully improved the 
advantages of an excellent classical education and extensive foreign 
travel ; he read much of ancient and modern literature, and gave the 
keenest attention to contemporary events and characters. His patriotism 
never lost its earnestness and elevation. It was our good fortune, in our 
youth, to pass months at a time under his roof, and we never left his 
mansion without additional impressions of peculiar respect for the singu- 
lar felicity of temperament and perfection of self-discipline, from which 
it resulted that no one, neither kindred, domestic nor guest, could feel 
his presence and society as in the least oppressive or irksome — exact 
and systematic, opulent and honored, enlightened and heedful though he 
was. 

The announcement of the death of Charles Carroll, was made as fol- 
lows in one of the Baltimore papers of the date : 

" It becomes our painful duty to announce to our readers the demise of 
the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. Charles 
Carroll of CarroUton is no more ! He expired at 4 o'clock yesterday 
morning. Thus, one after another, the luminaries of the Revolution are 
leaving this stage of action, and soon the whole of the bright galaxy, 
which in those dark days adorned the land, must be numbered with the 
silent dead, and live only in the grateful recollection of those for whom 
they have purchased liberty, independence, prosperity and happiness. — 
Here and there a solitary star remains, to attract the eye and warm the 
hearts of those who love and admire them for their virtues and their ser- 
vices. Mr. Carroll had reached a good old age ; and had the happiness 
to see this young republic, which he had performed so prominent a part 
in aiding to establish, emerge from obscurity, and take a station among 
the most powerful of the nations of the earth. He had lived to see her 
pass triumphantly through a second war with the mistress of the seas, as 
England has been long denominated, in which the proud lion was a 
second time compelled to cower beneath the power of the Eagle ; to see 
her banner waving over every sea, and her prowess acknowledged and 
feared in every land. He has lived to witness the anomaly in the re- 
cords of the world, of a powerful people almost entirely clear of debt, and 
without any dangerous or distracting controversy subsisting with any 
foreign power, which can be thought likely to require the expenditure of 
money for the maintenance of her rights. He saw the people for whom 
he had toiled, and pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor, 
united, prosperous and happy, and lived to see a worthy fellow citizen 
elected a second time to the Chief Magistracy of the nation by an al- 
most unanimous voice, en>bracing a large portion of every section of the 
Unior. : thus evincing that there is no reason to apprehend any danger 



12 SAMUEL CHASE. 

of a severance of this happy Union. In casting a retrospective glance 
over the path he had trodden in the course of his eventful life, how it 
warmed and animated his heart ! It was a subject upon which he always 
delighted to dwell ; and whenever it was touched upon, it caused him 
almost to forget his age and to put on the vigor and fire of youth. 

" In his own immediate neighborhood, in the place of a small and ob- 
scure village, he lived to see a large and populous city spring up, and 
assume a station the third only in the Union in point of extent, wealth, 
and commercial enterprise, and inhabited by a virtuous and gallant peo- 
ple, partaking of his feelings, and following his bright and glorious ex- 
ample. What more could a mortal desire to witness ? The cup of hap- 
piness with him was full to overflowing. He has fought a good fight, 
and his triumph has been complete. He has now run his race, and his 
remains repose in silence, and his grateful countrymen are showering 
their benedictions upon him. Peace to his ashes ! — May his brilliant 
example long serve to animate the hearts and nerve the arms of his 
countrymen." 



SAMUEL CHASE. 



Samuel Chase was born in Somerset county, Maryland, in 1771. 
He was educated by his father, a distinguished clergyman, who had 
emigrated to America, and whose attainments in classical literature were 
of a very superior order. Under such instruction, the son soon outstripped 
most of his compeers, and at the age of eighteen was sent to Annapoli 
to commence the study of the law. He was admitted to the bar in tb - 
town at the age of twenty, and soon after connected himself in marrivxg, 
with a lady, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. 

The political career of Mr. Chase may be dated from the year 1744, 
when he was sent to the Congress of Philadelphia, as a delegate from 
his native State. This station he continued to occupy for several years. 
In 1776, he was appointed, in conjunction with Benjamin Franklin and 
Charles Carroll, to proceed to Canada, for the purpose of inducing the 
inhabitants to cancel their allegiance to Great Britain, and join the 
American Confederacy. Although the expedition proved unsuccessful, 
the zeal and ability of the commissioners were never, for a moment, 
brought into question. 

On his return to Philadelphia, Mr. Chase found the question of in- 
dependence in agitation, in Congress. The situation of the Maryland 
delegation, at this juncture, was embarrassing. They had been express- 
ly prohibited, by their constituents, from voting in favor of a Declaration 
of Independence ; and as they had accepted their appointments under 
this restriction, they did not feel at liberty to give their active support to 
such a measure. It was not compatible with the spirit of Mr. Chase, 
quietly to endure such a situation. He left Congress, and proceeded to 
Maryland. He traversed the province, and, assisted by his colleagues, 



SAMUEL CHASE. 13 

awakened the people to a sense of patriotism and liberty, and persuaded 
them to send addresses to the Convention, then sitting at Annapolis, in 
favor of Independence. Such an expression of popular feeling the Con- 
vention could not resist, and at length gave an unanimous vote for the 
measure of Independence. With this vote, Mr. Chase hastened to Phila- 
delphia, where he arrived in time to take his seat on Monday morning, 
having rode, on the two previous days, one hundred and fifty miles. On 
the day of his arrival, the resolution to issue a Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, came before the house, and he had the privilege of uniting with 
a majority in favor of it. Mr. Chase continued a bold, eloquent and 
efficient member of Congress throughout the war, when he returned to 
the practice of his profession. 

In 1783, Mr. Chase visited England, on behalf of the State of Mary- 
land, for the purpose of reclaiming a large amount of property, Avhich, 
while a Colony, she had entrusted to the Bank of England. He con- 
tinued in England about a year, during which time he became acquainted 
with many of the most distinguished men of that country, among whom 
were Burke, Pitt, and Fox. While in England, he was married to his 
second wife, the daughter of Dr. Samuel Giles, of Kentbury, with whom, 
in 1784, he returned 'to America. In the year 1786, at the invitation of 
his friend. Colonel Howard, who had generously presented him with a 
portion of land in Baltimore, he removed to that city. On this occasion, 
the corporation of Annapolis tendered to Mr. Chase the expressions of 
their respect in a flattering address, to which he made a suitable reply. 
In 1791, he accepted the appointment of Chief Justice of the General 
Court of Maryland. 

In the year 1794, a circumstance took place in Baltimore, in which 
Judge Chase evinced considerable firmness and energy of character. 
Two men had been tarred and feathered in the public streets, on an occa- 
sion of some popular excitement. The investigation of the case was 
undertaken by him, in the issue of which he caused two respectable and 
iniluential individuals to be arrested as ringleaders. On being arraigned 
before the court, they refused to give bail. Upon this the Judge inform- 
ed them that they must go to jail. Accordingly, he directed the sheriff 
to take one of the prisoners to jail. This the sheriff declared he could 
not do, as he apprehended resistance. " Summon the posse comitatus 
then," excla med the judge. " Sir," said the sheriff, " no one will 
serve." " Summon me then," said Judge Chase, in a tone of lofty 
indignation, " I will be the posse comitatus, and I will take him to 
jail." 

In 1796, Judge Chase was appointed by Washington an associate 
Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, a station which he 
occupied for fifteen years, and which he supported with great dignity and 
ability. It Avas his ill fortune, however, to have his latter days embitter- 
ed by an impeachment by the House of Representatives, at Washington. 
This impeachment originated in political animosities, from the offence 
which his conduct in the Circuit Court had given to the democratic par- 
ty. The articles of impeachment originally reported were six in num- 
berj to which twd' others were afterwards added. Or five of the charges 



14 ABRAHAM CLARK. 

a majority of the Senate acquitted him. On the others a majority was 
against him ; but as a vote of two thirds is necessary to conviction, he 
was acquitted of the whole. This celebrated trial commenced on the 
second of January, and ended on the fifth of March, 1805 

Judge Chase continued to exercise his judicial functions till 1811, 
when his health failed him, and he expired on the nineteenth of June in 
that year. In his dying hour he appeared calm and resigned. He was 
a firrn believer in Christianity, and partook of the sacrament but a short 
time before his death, declaring himself to be in peace with all mankind. 
In his Avill, he directed that no mourning should be worn for him, and 
requested that only his name, with the dates of his birth and death, 
should be inscribed upon his tomb. He was a sincere patriot, and, 
though of an irascible temperament, was a man of high intellect and 
undaunted courasre. 



ABRAHAM CLARK. 



The quiet and unobtrusive course of life, which Mr. Clark pursued, 
furnishes few materials for biography. He was born in Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey, on the 15th of February, 1726. He was an only child, and 
his early education, although confined to English branches of study, was 
respectable. For the mathematics and the civil law, he discovered an 
early predilection. He was bred a farmer, but not being of a robust 
constitution, he turned his attention to surveying, conveyancing, and 
imparting legal advice. As he performed the latter service gratuitously, 
he was called "the poor man's counsellor." 

Mr. Clark's habits of life and generosity of character soon rendered 
him popular, and on the commencement of the troubles with the mother 
country, he was chosen one of the New Jersey delegation to the Conti- 
nental Congress. Of this body he was a member for a considerable 
period, and was conspicuous for his sound patriotism and his unwavering 
decision. A few days after he took his seat for the first time, as a mem- 
ber of Congress, he was called upon to vote for, or against, the proclama- 
tion of independence. But he Avas at no loss on which side to throw his 
influence, and readily signed the Declaration, which placed in peril his 
fortune and individual safety. 

Mr. Clark frequently after this time represented Neiv Jersey in the 
national councils^ and was also often a member of the State Legislature. 
He was elected a representative in the second Congress, under the Federal 
Constitution ; an appointment which he held until a short time previous 
to his death. Two or three of the sons of Mr. Clark were officers in 
the army, during the revolutionary struggle. Unfortunately they were 
captured by the enemy. During a part of their captivitj^, their sufferings 
were extreme, being confined in the notorious prison-ship, Jersey. Pain- 
ful as was the condition of his sons, Mr. Clark scrupulously avoided 
calling the attention of Congress to the subject, excepting in a single 



GEORGE CLYMER. iD 

instance. One of his sons, a captain of artillery, had been cast into a 
dungeon, where he received no other food than that which was conveyed 
to him by his fellow prisoners through a key-hole. On a representation 
of these facts to Congress, that body immediately directed a course of 
retaliation on a British officer. This had the desired effect, a)id Captain 
Clark's condition was improved. 

On the adjournment of Congress in June, 1794, Mr. Clark retired 
from public life. He did not live long, however, to enjoy the limited 
comforts he possessed. In the autumn of the same year, a stroke of the 
sun put an end to his existence, after it had been lengthened out to sixty- 
nine years. The church at Rahway contains his mortal remains, and a 
marble slab marks the spot where they are deposited. It bears the fol- 
lowing inscription : 

Firm and decided as a patriot, 

Zealous and faithful as a friena to the public, 

he loved his country 

and adhered to her cause 

in the darkest hour of her struggles 

against oppression. 



GEORGE CLYMER. 



George Clymer was born in the city of Philadelphia, in 1739. His 
father emigrated from Bristol, in England, and became connected by 
marriage with a lady of Philadelphia. Young Clymer was left an 
orphan at the age of seven years, and after the completion of his 
studies he entered the counting-house of his maternal uncle. At a sub- 
sequent period, he established himself in business, in connexion with 
Mr. Robert Ritchie, and afterwards with a father and son of the name 
of Meredith, a daughter of the former of whom he married. 

Although engaged in mercantile pursuits for many years, Mr. Clymer 
was never warmly attached to them, but devoted a great part of his time 
to literature and the study of the fine arts. He became also well versed 
in the principles of law, history, and politics, and imbibed an early detes- 
tation of arbitrary rule and oppression. When all hopes of conciliation 
with the parent country had failed, he was one of the foremost to adopt 
measures necessary for a successful opposition. He accepted a captain's 
commission in a company of volunteers, raised for the defence of the 
province, and vigorously opposed, in 1773, the sale of the tea, which 
tended indirectly to levy a tax upon the Americans, without their consent. 
He was appointed chairmai:i of a committee to wait upon the consignees 
of the offensive article, and request them not to sell it. The consequence 
was, that not a single pound of tea was offered for sale in Philadelphia 

In 1775, Mr. Clymer was chosen a member of the council of safe 
and one of the first continental treasurers. On the 20th of July, of 
following year, he was elected a member of the Continental Congr 
Though not present when the vote was taken in relation to a declara 



16 GEORGE CLYMER. 

of independence, he had the honor of afRxing his signature to that instru- 
ment in the following month. In December, Congress, finding it neces- 
sary to adjourn to Baltimore, in consequence of the advance of the British 
army towards Philadelphia, left Mr. Clymer, Eobert Morris, and George 
Walton, a committee to transact such business as remained unfinished, in 
that city. In 1777, Mr. Clymer was again a member of Congress ; and 
his labors during that session being extremely arduous, he was obliged 
to retire for a season, to repair his health. In the autumn of the same 
year, his family, which then resided in the county of Chester, suffered 
severely from an attack of the British ; escaping only, with the sacrifice 
of considerable property. Mr. Clymer was then in Philadelphia. On 
the arrival of the enemy in that place, they sought out his place of resi- 
dence, and were only diverted from razing it to the ground, by learning 
that it did not belong to him. During the same year, he was sent, in 
conjunction with others, to Pittsburg, to enlist warriors from the Shawnese 
and Delaware tribes of Indians, on the side of the United States. While 
residing at Pittsburg, he narrowly escaped death from the tomahawk, by 
accidentally turning from a road, where he afterwards learned a party of 
hostile savages lay encamped. 

On the occasion of the establishment of a bank by Robert Morris and 
other patriotic citizens of Philadelphia, for the purpose of relieving the 
army, Mr. Clymer, who gave his active support to the measure, was 
chosen director of the institution. He was again elected to Congress in 
1780, and for two years was a laborious member of that body. In 1782, 
he removed with his family to Princeton, (N. J.,) but in 1784, he was 
summoned by the citizens of his native State, to take a part in their 
General Assembly. He afterwards represented Pennsylvania in Con- 
gress for two years ; when, declining a re-election, he closed his long and 
able legislative career. 

In 1791, Congress passed a bill imposing a duty on spirits distilled in 
the United States. To the southern and western part of the country, 
this measure proved very offensive. Mr. Clymer was placed at the head 
of the excise department in the State of Philadelphia ; but he was soon 
induced to resign the disagreeable office. In 1796, he was appointed, 
with Colonel Hawkins and Colonel Pickins, to negociate a treaty with 
the Cherokee and Creek Indians, in Georgia. He sailed for Savannah, 
accompanied by his wife. The voyage proved extremely unpleasant 
and perilous ; but having completed the business of the mission, they 
returned to Philadelphia. Mr. Clymer was afterwards called to preside 
over che Philadelphia bank, and the Academy of Fine Arts. He 
held these offices till the period of his death, which took place on the 
23d of January, 1813, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He was 
of a studious and contemplative cast of mind, and eager to promote 
every scheme for the improvement of his country. His intellect was 
strong and cultivated, his character amiable and pure, and his integrity 
inviolable. He was singularly punctual in the discharge of his duties, 
and was a man of extensive information and the smallest pretensions. 



17 



WILLIAM ELLERY. 

William Ellery was born in Newport, Rhode Island, December 22d, 
1727. He was graduated at Harvard College, in his twentieth year, and 
entered upon the practice of the law at Newport, after the usual prepara- 
tory course. He acquired a competent fortune from his profession, and 
received the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. 

Mr. Ellery was elected a delegate to the Congress of 1776, and took 
his seat in that body, on the 17th of May. Here he soon became an 
efficient and influential member, and during the session signed the De- 
claration of Independence. Of this transaction he frequently spoke. 
He relates his having placed himself beside secretary Thompson, that he 
might observe how the members looked, as they put their names to their 
death warrant. He tasked his powers of penetration, but could discover 
no symptom of fear among them, though all seemed impressed with the 
solemnity of the occasion. In 1777, Mr. Ellery was appointed one of 
the marine committee of Congress, and is supposed to have first recom- 
mended the plan of preparing fireships, and sending them out from the 
State of Rhode Island. He shared considerably in the common loss of 
property, which was sustained by the inhabitants of Newport, on the 
occasion of the British taking possession of that town. 

Mr. Ellery continued a member of Congress until the year 1785, when 
he retired to his native State. He was successively a commissioner of 
the continental loan office, a Chief Justice of the Superior Court of 
Rhode Island, and collector of the customs for the town of Newport. 
He retained the latter office till the day of his death, which occurred on 
the 15th of February, 1820, at the advanced age of ninety years. The 
springs of existence seemed to have worn out by gradual and impercep- 
tible degrees. On the day of his death, he had risen, as usual, and 
rested in his chair, employed in reading " Cicero de Officiis." While 
thus engaged, his family physician called to see him. On feeling his 
pulse, he found that it had ceased to beat. A draught of wine and water 
quickened it into motion, however, once more, and being placed and 
supported on the bed, he continued reading, until his bodily functions no 
longer afforded a tenement to the immortal spirit, and discontinued their 
operations. 

Mr. Ellery was a man of much humility of spirit, and manifested an 
uncommon disregard of the applause of men. He looked upon the world 
and its convulsions with religious serenity, and in times of trouble and 
alarm, consoled himself and others, with the pious reflection of the 
Psalmist, " The Lord reigneth." 



18 



WILLIAM FLOYD. 

William Floyd was born on Long Island, December 17th, 1734. His 
father died while he was yet young, and left him heir to a large estate. 
His education was somewhat limited, but his native powers being respec- 
table, he improved himself by his intercourse with the opulent and intel- 
(igent families of his neighborhood. 

At an early period of the controversy between the colonies and mother 
country, Mr. Floyd warmly interested himself in the cause of the latter. 
His devotion to the popular side led to his appointment as a delegate from 
New York to the first Continental Congress. In the measures adopted by 
that body he most heartily concurred. He was re-elected a delegate the 
following year, and continued a member of Congress until after the declara- 
tion of Independence. On that occasion, he affixed his signature to the 
instrument, which gave such a momentous direction to the fate of a 
growing nation. He likewise served on numerous important committees, 
and rendered essential service to the patriotic cause. 

Mr. Floyd suffered severely from the destructive effects of the war 
upon his property, and for nearly seven years, his family were refugees 
from their habitation, nor did he derive any benefit from his landed estate. 
In 1777, General Floyd (he received this appellation from his having 
commanded the militia on Long Island) was appointed a Senator of the 
State of New York. In 1778, he was again chosen to represent his 
native State in the Continental Congress. From this time, until tne 
expiration of the first Congress, under the Federal Constitution, General 
Floyd was either a member of the National Assembly, or of the Senate 
of New York. In 1784, he purchased an uninhabited tract of land on 
the Mohawk river. To the improvement of this tract, he devoted the 
leisure of several successive summers ; and hither he removed his resi- 
dence, in 1803. He continued to enjoy unusal health, until a few days 
previous to his decease, when a general debility fell upon him, and he 
died August 4th, 1821, at the age of eighty-seven years. General Floyd 
was uniform and independent in his conduct ; and if public estimation 
be a just criterion of his merit, he was excelled by few, since, for more 
than fifty years, he was honored with offices of trust and responsibility, 
by his fcJJow citizens. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

Benjamin Franklin, the statesman and philosopher, was born m 
'^''"♦on, on the 17th of January, 1706. His father emigrated from Eng- 
ihlv., and had recourse for a livelihood to the business of a chandler 
and soap boiler. His mother was a native of Boston, and belonged to a 
respectable family of the name of Folger. 

Young Franklin was placed at a grammar school at an early age, but 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 19 

at the expiration of a year, was taken home to assist his father m his 
business. In this occupation, he continued two years, when lie be- 
came heartily tired of cutting wicks for candles, filling moulds, and 
running errands. He resolved to embark on a seafaring life ; but hia 
parents objected, having already lost a son at sea. Having a passionate 
fondness for books, he was finally apprenticed as a printer to his brother, 
who at that time published a newspaper in Boston. It was while he was in 
this situation, that he began to try his powers of literary composition. 
Street ballads and articles in a newspaper were his first efforts. Many 
of his essays, which were inserted anonymously, were highly commended 
by people of taste. Dissatisfied with the manner in which he was treated 
by his relative, he, at the age of seventeen, privately quitted him, and 
went to Philadelphia. The day following his arrival, he wandered 
through the streets of that city with an appearance little short of a beggar. 
His pockets were distended by his clothes, which were crowded into them ; 
and, provided with a roll of bread under each arm, he proceeded through 
the principal streets of the city. His ludicrous appearance attracted the 
notice of several of the citizens, and among others of Miss Reed, the 
lady whom he afterwards married. He soon obtained employment as a 
printer, and was exemplary in the discharge of his duties. Deluded by 
a promise of patronage from the Governor, Sir William Keith, Franklin 
visited England to procure the necessary materials for establishing a 
printing-oflice in Philadelphia. He was accompanied by his friend 
Ralph, one of his literary associates. On their arrival in London, Frank- 
lin found that he had been deceived ; and he was obliged to work as a 
journeyman for eighteen months. In the British metropolis, the morals 
of neither of our adventurers were improved. Ralph conducted as if 
he had forgotten that he had a wife and child across the Atlantic ; and 
Franklin was equally unmindful of his pledges to Miss Reed. About 
this period he published " A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, 
Pleasure and Pain." 

In 1726, Franklin returned to Philadelphia ; not long after which he 
entered into business as a printer and stationer, and, in 1728, established 
a newspaper. In 1730, he married the lady to whom he was engaged 
previous to his leaving America. In 1732, he began to publish " Poor 
Richard's Almanac," a work which was continued for twenty-five years, 
and which, besides answering the purposes of a calendar, contained many 
excellent prudential maxims, which rendered it very useful and popular. 
Ten thousand copies of this almanac were published every year in Ame- 
rica, and the maxims contained in it were often translated into the 
languages of Europe. 

The political career of Franklin commenced in 1736, when he was 
appointed clerk to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. His next 
office was the valuable one of postmaster ; and he was subsequently 
chosen as a representative. He assisted in the establishment of the 
American Philosophical Society, and of a college, which now exists 
under the title of the University of Pennsylvania. Chiefly by his exer- 
tions, a public library, a fire-preventing company, an insurance company, 
and a voluitary association for defence, were established at Philadelphia 



20 BENJAMIN FR/VNKLIN. 

He was chosen a member of the Provincial Assembly, to which body he was 
annually re-elected for ten years. Philosophy now began to attract his 
attention, and, in 1749, he made those inquiries into the nature of electri- 
city, the results of which placed him high among the men of science of the 
age. The experiment of the kite is well known. He had conceived the 
idea of explaining the phenomena of lightning upon electrical principles. 
While waiting for the erection of a spire for the trial of his theory, it occur- 
red to him that he might have more ready access to the region of clouds by 
means of a common kite. He accordingly prepared one for the purpose, 
affixing to the upright stick an iron point. The string Avas, as usual, of 
hemp, except the lower end, which was silk, and where the hempen part 
terminated, a key was fastened. With this simple apparatus, on the ap- 
pearance of a thunder cloud, he went into the fields, accompanied by his 
son, to whom alone he communicated his intentions, dreading probably the 
ridicule which frequently attends unsuccessful attempts in experimental 
philosophy. For some time no sign of electricity presented itself; he was 
beginning to despair of success, when he suddenly observed the loose 
fibres of the string to start forward in an erect position. He now pre- 
sented his knuckle to the key, and received a strong spark. On this 
depended the fate of his theory : repeated sparks were drawn from the 
key, a phial was charged, a shock given, and all the experiments made, 
which are usually performed with electricity. This great discovery he 
applied to the securing of buildings from the effects of lightning. 

In 1753, Dr. Franklin was appointed deputy postmaster general of 
British America. In this station, he rendered important services to 
General Braddock, in his expedition against Fort Du Qu?sne, and march- 
ed at the head of a company of volunteers to the protection of the frontier. 
He visited England in 1757 as agent for the State of Philadelphia ; and 
was also intrusted by the other colonies with important business. While 
in London, he wrote a pamphlet, pointing out the advantages of a con- 
quest of Canada by the English ; and his arguments are believed to have 
conduced considerably to that event. About this period, his talents as a 
philosopher were duly appreciated in various parts of Europe. He was 
admitted a fellow of the Royal Society of London, and the degree of 
Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him at St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and 
at Oxford. 

In 1762 he returned to America, and in 1764 was again appointed the 
agent of Philadelphia, to manage her concerns in England, in which 
country he arrived in the month of December. About this period the stamp 
act was exciting violent commotions in America. To this measure Doc- 
tor Franklin was strongly opposed, and he presented a petition against 
it, which, at his suggestion, had been drawn up by the Pennsylvania 
Assembly. Among others, he was summoned before the House of Com- 
mons, where he underwent a long examination. His answers were 
fearless and decisive, and to his representations the repeal of the act 
was, no doubt, in a great measure, attributable. In the year 1766 — 67, 
he made an excursion to Holland, Germany, and France, where he met 
with a most flattering reception. He was chosen a member of the French 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 21 

Academy of Sciences, and received diplomas from many other learned 
societies. 

Certain letters had been WTitten by Governor Hutchinson, addressed to 
his friends in England, which reflected in the severest manner upon the 
people of America. These letters had fallen into the hands of Doctor 
Franklin, and by him had been transmitted to America, where they were 
at length inserted in the public journals. For a time, no one in England 
knew through what channel the letters had been conveyed to America. 
In 1773, Franklin publicly avowed himself to be the person who obtained 
the letters and transmitted them to America. This produced a violent 
clamor against him, and upon his attending before the privy council, in 
the following January, to present a petition from the colony of Massachu- 
setts, for the dismissal of Governor Hutchinson, a most abusive invective 
was pronounced against him, by Mr. Weddeburne, afterwards Lord 
Loughborough. Among other epithets, the honorable member called 
Franklin a coward, a murderer, and a thief. During the whole of this 
insulting harangue, Franklin sat with a composed and unaverted aspect, 
" as if his countenance had been made of wood." Throughout this 
personal and public outrage, the whole assembly seemed greatly amused 
at Doctor Franklin's expense. The President even laughed aloud. 
There was a single person present, however, Lord North, who, to his honor 
be it recorded, expressed great disapprobation of the indecent conduct of 
the assembly. The intended insult, however, was entirely lost. The 
coolness and dignity of Franklin soon discomposed his enemies, who 
were compelled to feel the superiority of his character. Their animosity 
caused him to be removed from the office of postmaster general, inter- 
rupted the payment of his salary as agent for the colonies, and finally 
instituted against him a suit in chancery concerning the letters of 
Hutchinson. 

Despairing of restoring harmony between the colonies and mother 
country, Doctor Franklin embarked for America, where he arrived in 
1775. He was received with every mark of esteem and admiration. 
He Avas immediately elected a delegate to the general Congress, and 
signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, he was deputed with 
others to proceed to Canada, to persuade the people of that province to 
throw off the British yoke ; but the inhabitants of Canada had been so 
much disgusted with the zeal of the people of New England, who had 
burnt some of their chapels, that they refused to listen to the proposals 
made to them by Franklin and his associates. In 1778, he was dispatched 
by Congress, as ambassador to France. The treaty of alliance with the 
French government, and the treaties of peace, in 1782 and 1783, as well 
as treaties with Sweden and Prussia, were signed by him. On his 
reaching Philadelphia, in September, 1785, his arrival was hailed by 
applauding thousands of his countrymen, who conducted him in triumph 
to his residence. This was a period of which he always spoke Avith 
peculiar pleasure. In 1788, he withdrew from public life, and on the 
17th of April, 1790, he expired in the city of Philadelphia, in the eighty 
fourth year of his age. Congress directed a general mourning for him. 
throughout the United States ; and the National Assembly of France 



22 ELBRIDGE GERRY. 

decreed that each member should wear mourning for three days. Doctor 
Franklin lies buried in the north-west corner of Christ Church-yard, in 
Philadelphia. In his will he directed that no monumental ornaments 
should mark his grave. A small marble slab points out the spot whero 
he lies. 

Doctor Franklin had two children, a son and a daughter. The son, 
under the British government, was appointed Governor of New Jersey. 
On the breaking out of the revolution, he took up his residence in Eng- 
land, where he spent the remainder of his days. The daughter was 
respectably married in Philadelphia, to Mr. William Bache, whose 
descendants still reside in that city. 

In stature. Dr. Franklin was above the middle size. He possessed a 
sound constitution, and his countenance indicated a placid state of mind, 
great depth of thought, and an inflexible resolution. In youth he took 
a sceptical turn with regard to religion, but his strength of mind led him 
to fortify himself against vice by such moral principles as directed him 
to the most valuable ends, by honorable means. According to the testi- 
mony of his most intimate friend. Doctor William Smith, he became in 
maturer years a believer in divine revelation. The following epitaph on 
himself was written by Doctor Franklin, many years previously to hia 
death : 

The body of 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer, 

like the cover of an old book, 

its contents torn out, 

and stript of its lettering and gilding 

lies here food for worms. 

Yet the work itself shall not be lost ; 

for it will (as he believed) appear once more 

in a new 

and more beautiful edition, 

corrected and amended 

by the Author. 



ELBRIDGE GERRY. 



Elbridge Gerry was born at Marblehead, in the State of Massachu- 
setts, July 17th, 1744. He became a member of Harvard college before 
his fourteenth year, and on leaving the university, engage I in commer- 
cial pursuits at Marblehead, under the direction of his father. His 
inclination would have led him to the study of medicins; but great 
success attended his mercantile enterprise, and, in a few years, he found 
himself in the enjoyment of a competent fortune. 

1^ May, 1772, Mr. Gerry was chosen a representative to the General 
Ccart of Massachusetts, to which ofiice he was re-elected the following 
year. During this year he was appointed one of the committee of cor- 
respondence and inquiry. In June, the celebrated letters of Governor 
Hutchinson to persons in England were laid before the House by Mr. 



ELBRIDGE GERRY, 23 

Adams. In tlie debates on this disclosure, Mr. Gerry highly distinguished 
himself. He was also particularly active in the scenes of 1774. He 
was a member of the Provincial Congress which met at Concord, and 
powerfully contributed to the measures of opposition, which led to the 
Revolution. In 1775, the new Provincial Congress, of which he was one, 
assembled at Cambridge. In this body, he evinced a degree of patriotic 
intrepidity, which was surpassed by none. 

A committee of Congress, among whom were Mr. Gerry, Colonel 
Orne, and Colonel Hancock, had been in session in the village of Meno- 
tomy, then part of the township of Cambridge. The latter gentleman, 
after the close of the session, had gone to Lexington. Mr. Gerry and 
Mr. Orne remained at the village ; the other members of the committee 
had dispersed. Some officers of the royal army had passed through the 
villages just before dusk, and the circumstance so far attracted the atten- 
tion of Mr. Gerry, that he dispatched an express to Colonel Hancock, 
who, with Samuel Adams, was at Lexington. Mr. Gerry and Colonel 
Orne retired to rest, without taking the least precaution against personal 
exposure, and they remained quietly in their beds, until the British 
advance were within view of the dwelling-house. It was a beautiful 
night, and the polished arms of the soldiers glittered in the moon-beams, 
as they moved on in silence. The front passed on. When the centre 
were opposite the house, occupied by the committee, an officer and file 
of men were detached by signal, and marched towards it. The inmates, 
for whom they were in search, found means to escape, half dressed, into 
an adjoining cornfield, where they remained concealed until the troops 
were withdrawn. Every part of the house was searched " for the mem- 
bers of the rebel Congress ;" even the beds in which they had lain were 
examined. But their property, and, among other things, a valuable watch 
of Mr, Gerry's, which was under his pillow, were undisturbed. 

On the 17th daj' of June, the memorable battle of Bunker Hill was 
fought. The Provincial Congress was at that time in session at Water- 
town. Before the battle. Doctor Joseph Warren, President of the 
Congress, who was the companion and room-mate of Mr. Gerry, commu- 
nicated to him his intention of mingling in the approaching contest. 
The night preceding the Doctor's departure to the scene of battle, he is 
said to have lodged in the same bed with Mr. Gerry. In the morning, 
in reply to the admonitions of his friend, he uttered the well known 
^ords, " Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.'"^ The sweetness and 
the glory, hi but too truly experienced, and died one of the earliest 
victims to thi^. cause of his country's freedom. 

In 1775, Mr. Gerry proposed a law in the Provincial Congress of Mas- 
sachusetts, to encourage the fitting out of armed vessels, and to provide 
for the adjudication of prizes. This important measure was passed, and 
under its sanction, several of the enemy's vessels, with valuable cargoes, 
were captured. In 1776, Mr. Gerry was chosen a delegate to the Conti- 
nental Congress, in Avhich body he shortly after took his seat. His 
services in this capacity were numerous and important. Having married 

* It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country. 



24 ELBRIDGE GERRY. 

in New York, he returned to his native State, and fixed his residence at 
Cambridge, a few miles from Boston. In 1787, Mr. Gerry was chosen 
a delegate to the Convention which assembled at Philadelphia, to revise 
the articles of confederation. To him there appeared strong objections 
to the Federal Constitution, and he declined affixing his signature to the 
instrument. But when that Constitution had gone into effect, and he 
was chosen a representative to Congress, he cheerfully united in its sup- 
port, since it had received the sanction of the country. 

In 1797, Mr. Gerry was appointed to accompany General Pinckney 
and Mr. Marshall on a special mission to France. On their arrival in 
Paris, the tools of the government made the extraordinary demand of a 
large sum of money, as the condition of any negociation. This being 
refused, the ridiculous attempt was made by the Directory, to excite their 
fears for themselves and their country. In the spring of 179S, two of 
the envoys, Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall, were ordered to quit the 
territories of France, while Mr. Gerry was invited to remain, and resume 
tl^e negociation which had been suspended. He accepted the invitation 
to remain, but resolutely refused to resume the negociation. His object 
m remaining was to prevent an immediate rupture with France, which, 
it was feared, woiild result from his departure. His continuance seems 
to have eventuated in the good of his country. " He finally saved the 
peace of the nation," said the late President Adams, " for he alone dis- 
covered and furnished the evidence that X. Y. and Z. were employed 
by Talleyrand; and he alone brought home the direct, formal, and official 
assurances upon which the subsequent commission proceeded, and peace 
was made." 

Mr. Gerry returned to America in 1798, and in 1805 was elected by 
the republican party. Governor of Massachusetts. In the following year 
he retired, but in 1810 was again chosen Chief Magistrate of that com- 
monwealth, which office he held for the two succeeding years. In 1812, 
he was elected Vice-President of the United States, into which office he 
was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1813. While attending to his 
duties at Washington, he Avas suddenly summoned from the scene of his 
earthly labors. A beautiful monument, erected at the national expense, 
bears the following inscription : 

THE TOME OF 

ELBRIDGE GERRY, 

Vice-President of the United States, 

who died suddenly, in this city, on his way to the 

Capitol, as President of the Senate, 

November 23d, 1814. 

Aged 70. 



25 



BUTTON GWINNETT. 

Button Gwinnett was born in England, about the year 1732, and on 
coming of age became a merchant in the city of Bristol. Some time af- 
ter his marriage in his native country, he removed to Charleston, South 
Carolina, and having continued there two years, he purchased a large 
tract of land in Georgia, where he became extensively engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits. 

Mr. Gwinnett had long taken a deep interest in the welfare of the 
colonies ; but he despaired of a successful resistance to Great Britain. 
His sentiments on this point, however, underwent a great change, and 
he became a warm advocate for opposing the unjust exactions of the 
mother country. In 1776, he was elected a representative of the pro- 
vince of Georgia, in Congress. He accordingly repaired to Philadelphia, 
and took his seat in the National Council, to which he was re-elected 
the ensuing year. He was afterwards a m^ember of the Convention held 
at Savannah, to frame a Constitution for the State, and is said to have fur- 
nished the outlines of the Constitution, which was finally adopted. On 
the death of the President of the Provincial Council, Mr. Gwinnett was 
elected to the vacant station. In this situation he seems to have in- 
dulged in an unbecoming hostility towards an old political rival, Colonel 
M'Intosh; adopting several expedients to mortify his adversary, and 
never divesting himself of his embittered hatred towards him. In an 
expedition which he had projected against East Florida, Mr. Gwinnett 
designed to command the continental troops and militia of Georgia hiin- 
self, thereby excluding Colonel M'Intosh from the command even of his 
own brigade. 

Just at this period, it became necessary to convene the Legislature. 
In consequence of his official duties, Mr. Gwinnett was prevented from 
proceeding on the expedition. He therefore appointed to the command 
a subordinate officer of M'Intosh's brigade. The expedition failed en- 
tirely, and contributed to defeat the election of Mr. Gwinnett as Governor 
of the State. This failure blasted his hopes, and brought his political 
career to a close. M'Intosh was foolish enough to exult in the mortifi- 
cation of his adversary. The consequence was, that Mr. Gwinnett pre- 
sented him a challenge. They fought at the distance of only twelve 
feet. Both were severely wounded. The wound of Mr. Gwinnett 
proved fatal. He expired on the 27th of May, 1777, in the forty-fifth 
year of his age, — a melancholy instance of the misery produced by har- 
boring in the heart the absorbing passion of rancorous envy. 

In person Mr. Gwinnett was tall, and of a noble appearance. In is 
temper he was irritable ; but in his manners, courteous, graceful, and 
polite. 



26 



LYMAN HALL. 

Lyman Hall was born in Connecticut, about the year 1731. After 
receiving a collegiate education, and acquiring a competent knowledge 
of medicine, he removed to Georgia, where he established himself in his 
profession, in Sunbury, in the district of Medway. On the commence- 
ment of the struggle with Great Britain, he accepted of a situation in 
the parish of St. John, which was a frontier settlement, and exposed to 
incursions of the Creek Indians, and of the roj^alists of Florida. The 
parish of St. John, at an early period, entered with spirit into the oppo- 
sition to the mother country, while the rest of Georgia, generally, main- 
tained different sentiments. So widely opposite were the feelings of 
this patriotic parish to those of the other inhabitants of the province, 
that an almost total alienation took place between them. 

In 1774, the liberal party held a general meeting, at Savannah, where 
Dr. Hall appeared as a representative of the parish of St. John. The 
measures adopted, however, fell far short of his wishes, and those of his 
constituents. At a subsequent meeting, it was agreed to petition the 
King for a redress of grievances. 

The parish of St. John, dissatisfied with the half-way measures of the 
Savannah Convention, endeavored to negociate an alliance with the com- 
mittee of correspondence in Charleston, South Carolina. But this being 
impracticable, the inhabitants of St. John resolved to cy* off all com- 
mercal intercourse with Savannah and the surrounding parishes. Hav- 
ing taken this independent stand, they next made an unanimous choice 
of Dr. Hall as their representative to Congress. In the following May, 
Dr. Hall appeared in the Hall of Congress, and by that body was unani- 
mously admitted to a seat : but as he did not represent the whole of Geor- 
gia, it was resolved to reserve the question, as to his right to vote, for 
further deliberation. Fortunately, however, on the 15th of July, Georgia 
acceded to the general confederacy, and proceeded to the appointment of 
five delegates to Congress, three of whom attended at the adjourned 
meeting of ihat body in 1775. 

Among these delegates. Dr. Hall was one. He was annually re- 
elected until 17S0, when he retired from the National Legislature. On 
the possession of Georgia by the British, his property was confiscated, 
and he obliged to leave the State. He returned in 17S2, and the follow- 
ing year was elected to the Chief Magistracy of Georgia. After holding 
this office for some time, he retired from public life, and died at his resi 
denes, in Burke county, about the sixtieth year of his age. 



27 



JOHN HAKCOCK. 

John Hancock was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in the year 1737. 
Bo.th his father and grandfather were clergymen. Having lost the for- 
mer relative while yet a child, he was adopted by a paternal uncle, 
Thomas Hancock, " the most opulent merchant in Boston, and the most 
enterprising man in New England."' A professorship had been founded 
in Harvard College by his liberality, and to the library of that institu- 
lion he was a principal benefactor. 

Under the patronage of his uncle, the nephew received a liberal edu- 
cation in the above university, where he was graduated in 1754. On 
leaving college, he was employed as a clerk in the counting-house of his 
uncle, where he continued till 1760, when he visited England for the 
purpose of extending his information and correspondence. He returned 
to America in 1764; shortly after which, his uncle died, leaving him the 
direction of his enormous business, and a fortune the largest in the pro- 
vince. Hancock became neither haughty nor profligate by this sudden 
accession of wealth. He was kind and liberal to the numerous persons 
dependent upon him for employment ; and maintained a character for 
integrity and ability in the management of his vast and complicated con- 
cerns. His princely estate, added to his honorable and generous charac- 
ter, soon gave him influence, and ever rendered him popular. 

In 1760, he was chosen a member of the Legislature of Massachu- 
setts, and thus became intimately associated with James Otis, Samuel 
Adams, and other distinguished patriots. In this assembly, his genius 
rapidly developed itself, and he became conspicuous for the purity of his 
principles, and the excellence of his abilities. 

The arrival of a vessel belonging to Mr. Hancock, in 1768, which 
was said to be loaded contrary to the revenue laws, produced a violent 
ebullition of popular feeling. This vessel was seized by the custom- 
house officers, and placed under the guns of the Romney, at that time 
in the harbor, for security. This seizure greatly exasperated the people, 
and, in their excitement, they assaulted the revenue officers, and com- 
pelled them to seek safety on board the armed vessel, or in the neigh- 
boring Castle. The boat of the collector was destroyed, and several of 
the houses of his partisans were razed to the ground. Mr. Hancock, 
although in no wise concerned in this transaction, received from it a con- 
siderable accession of popularity. 

A few days after the affray, which is usually termed " the Boston 
Massacre," and to which we have briefly adverted in the sketch of Sa- 
muel Adams, Mr. Hancock was appointed to deliver an address in com- 
memoration of the event. After speaking of his attachment to a just 
government, and his detestation of tyranny, he proceeded to describe the 
profligac)'- and abandoned life of the troops quartered amongst them 
Not satisfied with their own shameful debauchery, they strove to vitiate 
the morals of the citizens, and " thereby render them loorthy of destruc- 
tion." He spoke in terms of unmeasured indignation of the massacre of 
the inhabitants ; and in appalling language forewarned the perpetrators of 



2S JOHN HANCOCK. 

the deed, of the vengeance which would overtake them hereafter, " it -he 
laboring earth did not expand her jaws; if the air they breathed were 
not commissioned to be the immediate minister of death." He pro- 
ceeded in the following spirited strain : 

" But I gladly quit this theme of death. I Avould not dwell too long 
upon the horrid effects, which have already followed from quartering 
regular troops in this toAvn ; let our misfortunes instruct posterity to 
guard against these evils. Standing armies are sometimes, (I would by 
no means say generally, much less universally.) composed of persons 
who have rendered themselves unfit to live in civil society ; who are 
equally indifferent to the glory of a George, or a Louis ; who, for the 
addition of one penny a day to their Avages, would desert from the Chris- 
tian cross, and fight under the crescent of the Turkish Sultan ; from 
such men as these what has not a State to fear ? With such as these, 
usurping Ca3sar passed the Rubicon ; with such as these he humbled 
mighty Rome, and forced the mistress of the world to own a master in a 
traitor. These are the men whom sceptred robbers now employ to frus- 
trate the designs of God, and render vain the bounties which his gra- 
cious hand pours indiscriminately upon his creatures." 

The intrepid style of this address removed all doubts as to the devot- 
ed patriotism of Mr. Hancock. His manners and habits had spread 
an opinion unfavorable to his republican principles. His mansion rival- 
ed the magnificence of an European palace. Gold and silver embroi- 
dery adorned his garments ; and his carriage, horses, and servants in 
livery, emulated the splendor of the English nobilitjr. But the senti- 
ments expressed by him in the above address were so public, and explicit, 
as to cause a complete renovation of his popularity. From tliis time, he 
became odious to the Governor and his adherents. Efforts were made to 
get possession of his person, and he, with Samuel Adams, was excluded 
from the general pardon offt?i"ed by Governor Gage, to all who would 
manifest a proper penitence for their opposition to the royal authority. 

In 1774, Hancock was unanimously elected to the presidential chair 
of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. The following year, the 
honor of the presidency of the Continental Congress was conferred upon 
him. His recent proscription by Governor Gage, no doubt, contributed 
to his popularity in that body. In this station Hancock continued till 
October, 1777 ; when his infirm health induced him to resign his office. 
He was afterwards a member of the Convention appointed to frame a 
Constitution for Massachusetts, and in 1780 was chosen first Governor of 
the Commonwealth, to which station he was annually elected, until the 
year 1785, when he resigned. After an interval of two years, he was 
re-elected to the same office. He continued in it till the time of his 
death, which took place on the 8th of October, 1793, in the fifty-fifth 
year of his age. 

Mr. Hancock was a firm and energetic patriot, and though possessed 
of immense wealth, devoted himself to the laborious service of his 
country. It has been remarked, that by the force with which he inscribed 
his name on the parchment, which bears the declaration of independence, 
he seems to have determined that his name should never be erased.. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 29 

His liberality was great, and hundreds of families, in times of distress, 
were daily fed from his munificence. He has been accused by his 
enemies of a passion for popularity, but whatever may have been the 
truth of the charge, a fondness for being beloved can be hardly reckoned 
among the bad traits of a man's character. A noble instance of his 
contempt of wealth, in comparison with public expediency, is recorded. 

At the time the American army was besieging Boston to expel the 
British, who held possession of the town, the entire destruction of the 
city was proposed by the American officers. By the execution of such 
a plan, the whole fortune of Mr. Hancock would have been sacrificed. 
Yet he readily acceded to the measure, declaring his willingness to sur- 
render his all, whenever the liberties of his country should require it. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

Benjamin Harrison was born in Berkley, Virginia. He was the 
descendant of a family distinguished in the history of the State, and was 
a student in the College of William and Mary, at the time of his father's 
death. In consequence of a misunderstanding with an officer of that 
institution, he left it before the regular period of graduation, and returned 
home. 

The management of his father's estate now devolved upon him, and 
he displayed an unusual degree of prudence and ability in the discharge 
of his trust. He was summoned at an early date, even before he had 
attained the age required by law, to sustain the reputation acquired by 
his ancestors, in state affairs. He was chosen a member of the Legisla- 
ture about the year 1764, a station which he may be said to have held 
through life, since he was always elected to a seat, whenever his other 
political avocations admitted of his occupying it. His fortune being 
ample, and his influence as a political leader very considerable, the royal 
government proposed to create him a member of the executive council 
of Virginia. Mr. Harrison was not to be seduced, however, by the attrac- 
tions of rank and power. Though young, he was ardently devoted to the 
cause of the people, and remained steadfast in his opposition to royal 
oppression. 

Mr. Harrison was a member of the Congress of 1774, and from that 
period, during nearly every session, represented his native State in 
that assembly. In this situation he was characterized for great firmness, 
good sense, and a peculiar sagacity in difficult and critical junctures. 
He was likewise extremely popular as chairman of the committee of the 
whole House. An anecdote is related of him on the occasion of the 
Declaration of Independence. While signing the instrument, he noticed 
Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, standing beside him. Mr. Harrison him- 
self was quite corpulent ; Mr. Gerry was slender and spare. As the 
former raised his hand, having inscribed his name on the roll, he turned 
to Mr. Gerry, and facetiously observed, that when the time of hanging 



3'0 JOHN HART. 

should come, he should have the advantage over him. " It will be over 
with me," said he, " in a minute ; but you will be kicking in the air half 
an hour after I am gone." 

Towards the close of 1777, Mr. Harrison resigned his seat in Congress, 
and returned to Virginia. In 1782, he was chosen Governor of the 
State, to which office he was twice re-elected ; when he become ineligi- 
ble by the provisions of the Constitution. In 1788, when the new Con- 
stitution of the United States was submitted to Virginia, he was returned 
a member of her Convention. In 1790, he was aga!in proposed as a 
candidate for the executive chair ; but declined in favor of his friend, 
Beverly Randolph. In the spring of 1791, Mr. Harrison was attacked 
by a severe fit of the gout, a recurrence of which malady shortly after 
put a period to his life. 

Mr. Harrison became connected by marriage with Miss Bassett, a niece 
to the sister of Mrs. Washington. He had many children ; and several 
of his sons became men of distinction. His third son, William Henry 
Harrison, has honorably served his country, in various official capacities. 



JOHN HART. 



John Haet was the son of Edward Hart, of Hopewell, in the county 
of Hunterdon, in New Jersey. He inherited from his father a conside- 
rable estate, and having married, devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, 
and became a worthy and respectable farmer. 

The reputation which he acquired for integrity, discrimination, and 
enlightened prudence, soon brought him into notice, and he was often 
chosen a member of the Colonial Assembly. Although one of the most 
gentle and unobtrusive of men, he could not suppress his abhorrence of 
the aggressions of the British ministry. He maintained a fearless and 
uniform opinion with regard to the rights of the colonies, and did not 
hesitate to express it when occasion invited him. On the meeting of the 
Congress of 1774, Mr. Hart appeared and took his seat ; having been 
elected by a conference of committees from several parts of the colony. 
During several succeeding sessions, he continued to represent the people 
of New Jersey, in the same assembly. When the question of a Decla- 
ration of Independence was brought forward, he was at his post, and 
voted for the measure with unusual zeal. 

In 1776, New Jersey became the theatre of war, and Mr. Hart sus- 
tained severe losses, by the destruction of his property. His children 
were, compelled to flee, his farm was pillaged, and great exertions were 
made to secure him as a prisoner. For some time he was hunted with 
untiring perseverance. He was reduced to the most distressing shifts 
to elude his enemies ; being often severely pressed by hunger, and 
destitute of a place of repose for the night. In one instance, he was 
obliged to conceal himself in the usual resting-place of a large dog, who 
was his companion for the time. 



JOSEPH HEWES. 31 

The battles of Trenton and Princeton led to the evacuation of New- 
Jersey by the British. On this event, Mr. Hart again collected his family 
around him, and began to repair the desolation of his farm. His constitu- 
tion, however, had sustained a shock, which was irreparable. His health 
gradually failed him; and though he lived to see the prospects of his 
country brighten, he died before the conflict was so gloriously terminated. 
He expired in the year 1780. The best praise that can be awarded to 
Mr. Hart, is, that he was beloved by all who knew him. He was very 
liberal to the Baptist church of Hopewell, to which community he 
belonged ; and his memory was hallowed by the esteem and regret of a 
large circle of friends. 



JOSEPH HEWES. 



Joseph Hewes was born near Kingston, in New Jersey, in the year 
1730. His parents were Quakers, who removed from Connecticut, on 
account of the existing prejudices against them among the Puritans, and 
of the hostilities of the Indians. 

At a suitable age, Joseph Hewes became a member of Princeton 
College ; and after having graduated in due course, he was placed in the 
counting-house of a gentleman at Philadelphia, to be educated as a 
merchant. On leaving this situation, he entered into business for him- 
self, and was highly successful in his commercial transactions. At the 
age of thirty he removed to North Carolina, and settled in the village oi 
Edenton. Prosperity continued to attend him here, and he soon acquired 
a handsome fortune. By his probity and liberal dealings, he also gained 
the esteem of the people among whom he lived, and Avas called to repre- 
sent them in the Colonial Legislature of the province. This distinction 
was conferred upon him for several successive years, during which he 
increased in popularity with his constituents. 

In 1774, Mr. Hewes was chosen one of the three delegates from North 
Carolina to the Continental Congress. No members of that body brought 
with them credentials of a bolder stamp than the delegates from North 
Carolina. They were invested with such powers as might " make any 
acts done by them, or consent given in behalf of this province, obligatory 
in honor upon any inhabitant thereof, who is not an alien to his country's 
good, and an apostate to the liberties of America." On the meeting* of 
this Congress, Mr. Hewes was nominated one of the committee appointed 
to " state the rights of the colonies in general, the several instances in 
which those rights had been violated or infringed, and the means most 
proper to be pursued for obtaining a restoration of them." He also 
assisted in preparing their celebrated report, which was drawn up as 
follows : 

" 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty, and property ; and they have 
never ceded to any sovereign power whatever a right to dispose of either, 
without their consent. 



;-i,2 JOSEPH HEWES. 

'"> That our ances.ors, who first settled these colonies, were, at the 
time~of their emiijration from the mother country, entitled to all the 
rights, liherties, and immunities of free and natural born subjects, within 

the realm of En2:land. r r • 2 a a 

" 3 That by s\ich emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, 
or lo^t, any of those rights; but that they were, and their descendants 
now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them as 
their local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy. 

"4 That the foundation of Enolish liberty, and of free government, 
is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council ; and as 
the Enolish colonists are not represented, and, from their local and other 
circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British Parhament 
thev are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation m their 
several Provincial Legislatures, where their right of representation can 
alone be pursued in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subjec only 
to the neo-ative of their sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore 
used and accustomed ; but if, from the necessity of the case, and a regard 
to the mutual interests of both countries, we cheerful y consent to the 
operation of such acts of Uie British Parliament as are bo?ia fide restrain- 
ed to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing 
the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, 
and the commercial benefit of its respective members ; excluding every 
idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects 
in America, without their consent. 1 „ ^f 

" 5 That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law ot 
Eno-land, and, more especially, to the great and inestimable privilege ot 
being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course ot tha 

^^6 That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English 
statutes as existed at the time of their colonization, and which they have, 
by experience, respectively found applicable to their several local and 

other circumstances. ,., . ,-.i j ,„ „ii tu^ 

" 7 That these his Majesty's colonies are likewise entitled to all the 
immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal char- 
ters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws. 

" 8 That they have a rijrht peaceably to assemble, consider ot their 
grievances, and petition the^King ; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory 
proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal. . 

"9. That the keepinfj a standing army in these colonies m times 01 
peace, ^vithout consent of the Legislature of that colony in which such 
army is kept, is against the law. , 

"10. It is indispensably necessary to good government, and rendered 
e«^^ential by the Enolish Constitution, that the constituent branches ot the 
Legislature be independent of each other ; and therefore the exercise ot 
leo-islative power in several colonies by a council appointed during plea- 
sure by the crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive to the 
freedom of American legislation. . ^ 1. ir r.u .^o^Ur^c 

" All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, m behalf of themsehes 
and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their mdispu 



THOMAS HEYWARD. 33 

table rights and liberties, which cannot be legally taken from them, alter- 
ed, or abridged, by any power whatever, without their consent, by their 
representatives in their several Provincial Legislatures." 

To the above declaration of rights was added an enumeration of ihc 
wrongs already sustained by the colonies ; after stating which, the report 
concluded as follows : 

" To these grievous acts and measures, Americans cannot submit ; but 
in hopes their fellow subjects in Great Britain will, on a revision of them, 
restore us to that state in which both countries found happiness and 
prosperity, we have, for the present, only resolved to pursue the following 
peaceable measures : 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consump- 
tion, and non-exportation agreement, or association. 2. To prepare an 
address to the people of Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants 
of British America. And, 3. to prepare a loyal address to his majesty, 
agreeably to resolutions already entered into." 

Although engaged in extensive commercial transactions, Mr. Hewes, 
about this time, assisted in forming the plan of the non-importation 
association, and readily became a member of it. He was again elect- 
ed to Congress by the people of North Carolina in 1775, and remained 
in Philadelphia until the adjounmient of that assembly in July. He 
continued to represent the same State, almost without intermission, for 
four succeeding years, and gave very general satisfaction. The last time 
that he appeared in Congress was on the 29th of October, 1799. After 
this date, an indisposition, under which he had labored for some time, 
confined him to his chamber, and at length, on the lOth of November, 
terminated his life, in the fiftieth year of his age. His funeral was 
numerously attended, and in testimony of their respect to his memory, 
Congress resolved to wear crape round the left arm for the space of one 
month. Mr. Hewes left a large fortune, but no children to inherit it. 



THOMAS HEYWARD. 



Thomas Heyward was born in St. Luke's parish, in South Carolina, 
in the year 1746. His father was a planter of fortune, and young Hey- 
ward received the best education that the province could afford. Having 
finished his scholastic studies, he entered upon those of the law, and after 
the usual term of application, was sent to England to complete himsell 
in his profession. He was enrolled as a student in one of the Inns of 
Court, and devoted himself with great ardor to the acquirement of legal 
knowledge. 

On completing his studies in England, he commenced the tour of Eu- 
rope, which occupied him several years. After enjoying the advantages 
of foreign travel, he returned to his native country, and devoted himself, 
with great zeal for a man of fortune, to the labors of the law. In 1775, 
Mr. Heyward was elected to supply a vacancy in Congress ; and arrived 
at Philadelphia in season to join in the discussion of tiie great question 



34 WILLIAM HOOPER 

of Independence. In 1778, he was prompted by a sense of duty to accept 
of an appointment as Judge of the Criminal Court of the new Govern- 
ment. Soon after his elevation to the bench, he was called upon to pre- 
side at the trial and condemnation of several persons charged with a 
treasonable correspondence with the enemy. The conviction of these 
individuals was followed by their execution, which took place Avithin 
view of the British army, to whom it rendered the Judge particularly 
obnoxious. 

In the spring of 1780, the city of Charleston was taken possession of 
by General Clinton. Judge Heyward, at that time, had command of a 
battalion. On the reduction of the place, he became a prisoner of war, 
and was transported, with some others, to St. Augustine. During his 
absence, he suffered greatly in respect to his property. His plantation was 
much injured, and his slaves were seized and carried away. He at 
length had leave to return to Philadelphia. On his passage thither, he 
narrowly escaped a watery grave. By some accident he fell overboard ; 
but, fortunately, he kept himself from sinking, by holding to the rudder 
of the ship, until assistance could be rendered him. On his return to 
Carolina, he resumed his judicial duties ; in the exercise of which, he 
continued till 1798. He was a member of the Convention for forming 
the State Constitution, in 1790; and was conspicuous for his sound 
judgment and unchanging patriotism. Having retired from the most 
arduous of his public labors and cares, he died in March, 1809, in the 
sixty-fourth year of his age. Mr. Heyward was twice married, and was 
the father of several children. He was estimable for his amiable dispo- 
sition, his virtuous principles, and his extensive acquaintance with men 
and things. 



WILLIAM HOOPER. 



William Hooper was born in Boston, on the 17th of June, 1742. 
He entered Harvard University at the age of fifteen, and was graduated 
in 1760. His father, who was pastor of Trinity Church, in Boston, had 
destined his son for the ministerial profession ; but the latter having an 
inclination for the law, he was placed in the office of the celebrated 
James Otis, to pursue the study of his choice. On being qualified for 
the bar, young Hooper removed to North Carolina, and having married, 
finally established himself in the practice of his profession at Wil- 
mington. 

He was soon placed, by his talents, among the foremost advocates of 
the province, and was chosen to represent the town of Wilmington, in 
the General Assembly. He was elected to a seat in the same body the 
following year, and was always one of the boldest opposers of the tyran- 
nical encroachments of the British Government. In 1774, Mr. Hooper 
^v^s chosen a delegate to the memorable Congress, which met at Phila- 
lielphia. He took an important share in the discussions of this Assem- 



^ STEPHEN HOPKINS. 35 

bly, and was remarkable for his fluent and animated elocution. He was 
a member of the same body the following year, and during the session, 
drew up, as chairman of different committees, several able addresses and 
reports. In 1776, the private affairs of Mr. Hooper requiring his atten- 
tion in North Carolina, he did not, for some time, attend upon the sitting 
of Congress. He returned, however, in season to share in the honoi 
and danger of signing the imperishable instrument which declared the 
Colonies of North America free and independent. Having been elected 
to Congress a third time, Mr. Hooper was obliged to resign his seat in 
February, 1777, and return to the adjustment of his own embarrassed 
affairs. 

In 1786 he was appointed, by Congress, one of the Judges of a Fede- 
ral Court, form.ed for the purpose of settling a controversy which existed 
between the States of New York and Massachusetts, in regard to cer- 
tain lands. In the following year, his health being considerably im- 
paired, he sought to restore it by private retirement. This, however, he 
did not live long to enjoy. He died in October, 1790, at the age of forty- 
eight years, leaving a wife and three children. Mr. Hooper was dis- 
tinguished for his conversational powers, his good taste, and his devotion 
to his profession. As a politician, he was constant, judicious, and en- 
thusiastic. He never gave way to despondency; possessing an unshak- 
en confidence that Heaven would defend the right. 



STEPHEN HOPKINS. 



Stephen Hopkins was born near Providence, (R. I.) in a place now 
called Scituate, on the 7th of March, 1707. He was of respectable pa- 
rentage, being a descendant of Benedict Arnold, the first Governor of 
Rhode Island. His early education was limited, but he is said to have 
excelled in penmanship, and in the practical branches of mathematics. 

For several years he followed the profession of a farmer. He was 
afterwards chosen Town Clerk of Scituate, and a Representative to the 
General Assembly. He was subsequently appointed a Justice of the 
Peace, and a Justice of one of the Courts of Common Pleas. In 1733, 
he became Chief Justice of that court. In 1742, he removed to Provi- 
dence, where he entered into commerce, and was extensively engaged in 
building and fitting out vessels. He was chosen a Representative from 
that town to the General Assembly, and became Speaker of the House 
of Representatives. In 1751, he was made Chief Justice of the Superior 
Court, and held that office till the year 1754, when he Avas appointed a 
Commissioner to the celebrated Albany Convention. The object of this 
Convention was the securing of the friendship of the five great Indian 
nations, in the approaching French war, and an union between the 
several colonies of America. 

In 1756, Mr. Hopkins was elected Chief Magistrate of the colony of 
Rhode Island This office he continued to hold, almost without inter- 



36 FRANCIS HOPKINSON. 

mission, until 1767 ; discharging its duties in an efficient and highly 
satisfactory manner. He resolutely espoused the cause of the colonies, 
and in a pamphlet entitled, " The rights of colonies examined," proved 
the injustice of the Stamp Act, and other measures of the British minis- 
try. In 1774, Mr. Hopkins received the appointment of Delegate from 
Rhode Island to the Continental Congress. In this assembly he took 
his seat on the first day of the session, and became one of the most 
zealous advocates of the measures adopted by that illustrious body of 
men. In the year 1775 and 1776, he again represented Rhode Island in 
Congress. In this latter year, he affixed his name to the Declaration of 
Independence. His signature was the only one upon the roll, which 
gave indications of a trembling hand ; but it was not the tremulousness 
of fear. Mr. Hopkins had for some time been afflicted with a paralytic 
affection, which compelled him, when he wrote, to guide his right hand 
with his left. 

In 1778, Mr. Hopkins was a Delegate to Congress for the last time : 
bat for several years afterwards, he was a member of the General As- 
sembly of Rhode Island. He closed his useful and honorable life on the 
13th of July, 1785, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Mr. Hopkins 
was enabled by the vigor of his understanding to surmount his early 
deficiencies, and rise to the most distinguished offices in the gift of his 
liellow citizens. He possessed considerable fondness for literature, and 
greatly excelled as a mathematician. He was an unshaken friend of 
nis country, and an enemy to civil and religious intolerance, distinguish- 
ed for his liberality, and for the correct and honorable discharge of his 
various duties. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON. 

Francis Hopkinson was born in Philadelphia, in the year 1737. His 
father was an Englishman, who, a short time previous to his emigration 
to America, married a niece of the Bishop of Worcester. He was a 
man of a cultivated mind and considerable literary accomplishments ; 
and became intimate with Benjamin Franklin, by whom he was held in 
high estimation. Upon the death of Mr. Hopkinson, which occurred 
while he was in the prime of life, the care of his family devolved upon 
his widow, who was eminently qualified for the task. She was a 
woman of a superior mind ; and discovering early indications of talent in 
her son, she resolved to make every sacrifice, to furnish him with a good 
education. She placed him at the college of Philadelphia, and lived 
to see him graduate Avith reputation, and attain a high eminence at the 
bar. 

In 1766, Francis Hopkinson embarked for England, and received, 
upon the occasion, a public expression of respect and affection from the 
Board of Trustees of the College of Philadelphia. After a residence of 
more than two years in the land of his forefathers, he returned to Ameri- 



SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. "7' 

ca. He soon after married Miss Borden, of Bordenlown, in New Jer- 
sey, where he took up his residence, and was appointed collector of the 
customs and executive counsellor. These offices he did not long enjoy, 
having sacrificed them to his attachment to the liberties of his country. 
He enlisted himself warmly in the cause of the people, and in 1776 was 
appointed a delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress. He 
voted for the Declaration of Independence, and affixed his signature to 
the engrossed copy of that instrument. In 1779, he was appointed 
Judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania, and for ten years con- 
tinued to discharge with fidelity the duties of that office. 

Soon after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, Mr. Hopkinson 
received from Washington the appointment of Judge of the United States 
for the district of Pennsylvania. In this station, he conscientiously 
avoided mingling in party politics. His life was suddenly terminated, 
while in the midst of his usefulness, on the 8th of May, 1791. He died 
of an apoplectic fit, which, in two hours after the attack, put a period to 
his existence. 

Mi-. Hopkinson was endued with considerable powers of humor and 
satire, which he employed effectually in rousing the feelings of the peo- 
ple, during the war of the Revolution. He Avas the author of several 
fugitive pieces, which were very popular in their day. His well known 
ballad, called " The Battle of the Kegs," gives evidence of a rich and 
exhaustless fund of humor, and will probably last the wear of centuries. 
He excelled in music, and had some knowledge of painting. His library 
was extensive, and his stock of knowledge constantly accumulating. In 
stature, Mr. Hopkinson was below the common size. His countenance 
was animated, his speech fluent ; and his motions were unusually rapid. 
Few men were kinder in their dispositions, or more benevolent in their 
lives. He left, at his decease, a widow and five children. The eldest 
of these, Joseph Hopkinson, occupies an eminent rank among the advo 
cates of the American bar. 



SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 

Samuel Huntington was born in Windham, Connecticut, on the 2d 
of July, 1732. Being the eldest son, his father required his assistance 
on the farm, and his opportunities for study were accr rdingly brief and 
extremely rare. He possessed, however, a vigorous understanding, and 
supplied his deficiencies of instruction by an assiduous and a persevering 
devotion to the acquisition of knowledge. At the age of twenty-one 
years, he was probably equal, in point of literary attainments, to most of 
those who had received a collegiate education. 

Conceiving a fondness for legal pursuits, he abandoned his occupation 
of husbandry, and resolved to enter alone and unaided upon the study of 
the law. He soon obtained a competent knowledge of the principles of the 
profession, to commence the practice of an attorney in his native town: 



38 FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE. 

but in 1760, he removed to Norwich, Avhere a wider field presented itself 
for the exercise of his talents. Here he soon became distinguished for 
his ability, his integrity, and his strict attention to business. In 1764, 
Mr. Huntington represented the town of Norwich in the General Assem- 
bly ; and the following year was appointed to the office of King's Attor- 
wey. In 1774, he became an Associate Judge in the Superior Court, 
and soon after an assistant in the Council of Connecticut. 

His talents and patriotism recommending him to public confidence, he 
was elected in 1775 a Delegate to the Continental Congress. In the 
subsequent July, he voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence. 
Mr. Huntington continued a member of Congress until the year 1781, 
when ill health induced him to resign. On the departure of Mr. Jay as 
Minister to Spain, he had been appointed to the presidency of the Congress, 
and had served in that honorable station with distinguished ability and 
digniry. In testimony of their approbation of his conduct in the chair, 
and m the execution of public business, Congress, soon after his retire- 
ment, acctirded to Mr. Huntington the expression of their public thanks. 
On his return to his native State, he resumed his judicial functions, and 
in 17S2 was re-elected to Congress. He did not attend, however, until 
the following year, when he resumed his seat. He continued a con- 
spicuous member, until November, at which time 'he finally retired from 
the National Assembly. 

Soon after his return to Connecticut, he was placed at the head of the 
Superior Court, and the following year was chosen Lieutenant-Governor 
of the State. In 1786, he succeeded Governor Griswold in the office of 
Chief Magistrate, and was annually re-elected to that station during the 
remainder of hi« life. His death took place on the 5th of January, 1796, 
in the yixty-fourth year of his age. Mr. Huntington was a sincere 
Christian, and few men possessed a greater share of mildness and equa- 
nimity of temper. He rose from the humble situation of a ploughboy 
by his own industry and perseverance, and without the advantage of 
family patronage or influence. He married in the thirtieth year of his 
age ; but having no children, he adopted a son and daughter of his 
brother, the Reverend Joseph Huntington. 



FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE. 

Francis Lightfoot Lee was born in Virginia in 1734. He was the 
tourth son of Thomas Lee, who for several years held the office of Presi- 
dent of the King's Council. 

Francis Lightfoot did not receive the advantage enjoyed by his elder 
brothers, of an education at the English Universities. He was placed, 
however, under the care of an accomplished domestic tutor of the name 
of Craig, and acquired an early fondness for literature. He became well 
versed in the most important branches of science, and probably obtained 
as good an education as the country could then afTord. The fortune 



FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE. 39 

bequeathed him by his father rendered the study of a profession unne- 
cessary, ar.d he accordingly surrendered himself, for several years, to the 
enjoymen; of literary ease and social intercourse. He p'ossessed, however 
an active mind, and i/armly interested himself in the advancement of 
his coun'.ry. In 1765, he was returned a member of the House of Bur- 
gesses from the county of Loudon, where his estate was situated. He 
was annually re-elected to this office until 1772, when, having married a 
lady of Richmond county, he removed thither, and was soon after chosen 
by the citizens of that place to the same station. 

In 1775, Mr. Lee was appointed by the Virginia Convention a delegate 
to the Continental Congress. He took his seat in this assembly ; and, 
though he seldom engaged in the public discussions, was surpassed by 
none in his zeal to forward the interests of the colonies. His brother, 
Richard Henry Lee, had the high honor of bringing forward the momen- 
tous question of independence, but no one was perhaps a warmer friend 
of the measure than Francis Lightfoot. 

Mr. Lee retired from Congress in 1779. He was fondly attached 1o 
the pleasures of home, and eagerly sought an opportunity when his 
services were not essentially needed by his country, to resume the undis- 
turbed quiet of his former life. He was not long permitted to enjoy his 
seclusion. He reluctantly obeyed the summons of his fellow citizens to 
represent them once more in the Legislature of Virginia. His duties 
were most faithfully discharged while a member of this body ; but he 
soon became weary of the bustle and vexations of public life, and relin- 
quished them for the pleasures of retirement. In the latter period of his 
life, he found ^n unfailing source of happiness to himself, in contributing 
largely to the enjoyment of others. His benevolence and the urbanity 
of his manners rendered him beloved by all. He was a practical friend 
to the poor, and a companion to the young or the aged, the lighthearted 
or the broken in spirit. Having no children, he devoted his time chiefly 
to reading, farming, and company. His death was occasioned by a pleu- 
risy, which disease also terminated the life of his wafe a few days after 
his own departure. He died in the consoling belief of the Gospel, and 
in peace with all mankind and his own conscience. 

The brothers of Mr. Lee were all eminently distinguished for their 
talents and for their services to their country. Philip Ludwell, a member 
of the King's Council ; Thomas Ludwell, a member of the Virginia 
Assembly ; Richard Henry, as the champion of American freedom ; 
William, as a sheriff and alderman of London, and afterwards a Com- 
missioner of the Continental Congress at the courts of Berlin and Vienna ; 
and Arthur as a scholar, a politician, and diplomatist. 

57 



40 



RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

Richard Henky Lee, a brother of the foregoing, was born at Stratford, 
in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 20th of January, 1732. He 
received his education in England, where his acquisitions were conside- 
rable in scientific and classical knowledge. He returned to his native 
country when in his nineteenth year, and devoted himself to the general 
study of history, politics, law, and polite literature, without engaging in 
any particular profession. 

About the year 1757, he w^as chosen a Delegate to the House of Bur- 
gesses, where a natural diffidence for some time prevented him from 
displaying the full extent of his powers and resources. This impediment, 
however, was gradually removed, and he rapidly rose into notice as a 
persuasive and eloquent speaker. In 1764, he was appointed to draught an 
address to the King, and a memorial to the House of Lords, which are 
among the best state papers of the period. Some years afterwards, he 
brought forward his celebrated plan for the formation of a committee of 
correspondence, whose object was " to watch the conduct of the British 
Parliament ; to s;->read more widely correct information on topics con- 
nected with the interests of the colonies, and to form a chosen union of 
the men of influence in each." This plan was originated about the same 
time in Massachusetts, by Samuel Adams. 

The efforts of Mr. Lee in resisting the various encroachments of the 
British government were indefatigable, and in 1774 he attended the first 
General Congress at Philadelphia, as a delegate from Virginia. He was 
a member of most of the important committees of this body, and labored 
with imceasing vigilance and energy. The memorial of Congress to the 
people of British America, and the second address of Congress to the 
people of Great Britain, were both from his pen. The following year, 
he was again deputed to represent Virginia in the same assembly, and 
his exertions were equally zealous and successful. Among other respon- 
sible duties, he was appointed, as chairman of a committee, to furnish 
General Washington, who had been summoned to the command of the 
American armies, with his commission and instructions. 

On the 7th of June, 1776, Mr. Lee introduced the measure, which 
declared, " That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to 
the British cro\^'Ti ; and that all political connexion between them and the 
State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This im- 
portant motion he supported by a speech of the most brilliant eloquence. 
"Why then. Sir," said he, in conclusion, "why do we longer delay ? 
Why still deliberate ? Let this happy day give birth to an American 
republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to re-estab- 
lish the reign of peace and of law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon 

; she demands of us a living example of freedom, that may exhibit a 

ntrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which 
elates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum, 

ere the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. She 



RICHARD HENRY LEE. 41 

invites5 us to cultivate a propitious soil, where that generous plant which 
first sprung up and grew in England, but is now withered by the poisonous 
blasts of Scottish tyranny, may revive and flourish, sheltering under its 
salubrious and interminable shade, all the unfortunate of the human race. 
If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American 
legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of Theseus, 
Lycurgus, and Romulus, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of all 
those whose memory has been, and ever will be, dear to virtuous men 
and good citizens." 

The debate on the above motion of Mr. Lee, was protracted until 
the tenth of June, when Congress resolved : " that the consideration of 
the resolution respecting Independence, be postponed till the first Mon- 
day in July next ; and in the meanwhile, that no time may be lost, in 
case the Congress agree thereto, that a committee be appointed to pre 
pare a declaration to the effect of the said resolution." 

As the mover of the original resolution for Independence, it would, ac- 
cording to parliamentary usage, have devolved upon Mr. Lee to have been 
appointed chairman of the Committee selected to prepare a declaration, 
and, as chairman, to have furnished that important document. But on 
the day on which the resolution was taken, Mr. Lee was unexpectedly 
summoned to attend upon his family in Virginia, some of the members 
of which were dangerously ill ; and Mr. Jefferson was appointed chair- 
man in his place. 

Mr. Lee continued to hold a seat in Congress till June, 1777, when he 
solicited leave of absence, on account of the delicate state of his health. 
In August, of the next year, he was again elected to Congress, and conti- 
nued in that body till 1780, when he declined a re-election, believing that he 
would be more useful to his native State by holding a seat in her Assem- 
bly. In 1784, however, he again accepted an appointment as represen- 
tative to Congress, of which body he was unanimously elected President. 
In this exalted station, he presided with great ability ; and on bis retire- 
ment, received the acknowledgments of Congress. 

Mr. Lee was opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 
without amendment. Its tendency, he believed, was to consolidation. 
To guard against this, it was his wish that the respective States 
should impart to the Federal Head only so much power as was neces- 
sary for mutual safety and happiness. He was appointed a Senator 
from Virginia, under the new Constitution. 

About the year 1792, Mr. Lee was compelled, by his bodily debility 
and infirmities, to retire wholly from public business. Not long after, 
he had the pleasure of receiving from the Legislature of his native State, 
an unanimous vote of thanks for his public services, and of sympathy 
for the impaired condition of his health. He died on the 19th of June, 
1794, at the age of sixty-three years. 

In private life, Mr. Lee was the delight of all who knew him. He 
had a numerous family of children, the offspring of two marriages, who 
were tenderly devoted to their father. As an orator, he exercised an un- 
common sway over the minds of men. His gesture was graceful and 
highly finished, and his language perfectly chaste. He reasoned well. 



42 FRANCIS LEWIS. 

and declaimed freely and splendidly ; and such was his promptitude, 
that he required no preparation for debate. He was well acquainted with 
classical literature, and possessed a rich store of political knowledge. 
Few men have passed through life in a more honorable and brilliant 
manner, or left behind them a more desirable reputation, than Richard 
Henry Lee. 



FRANCIS LEWIS. 



Francis Lewis was a native of Landaff, in South Wales, where he wa5 
born in the year 1713. Being left an orphan at the age of four or five years, 
the care of him devolved upon a maiden aunt, who took singular pains 
to instruct him in the native language of his country. He was after- 
wards sent to Scotland, where, in the family of a relation, he acquired a 
knowledge of the Gaelic. From this he was transferred to the school 
of Westminster, where he completed his education; and enjoyed the 
reputation of being a good classical scholar. 

Having determined on the pursuit of commerce, he entered the 
counting-room of a London merchant, and in few years acquired a com- 
petent knowledge of his profession. On attaining the age of twenty- 
one years, he converted the whole of his property into merchandise, and 
sailed for New York, where he arrived in the spring of 1735. Leaving 
a part of his goods to be disposed of by Mr. Edward Annesly, with 
whom he had formed a commercial connexion, he transported the remain- 
der to Philadelphia. After a residence of two years in the latter city, 
he returned to New York, and there became extensively engaged in na- 
vigation and foreign trade. He married the sister of his partner, by 
whom he had several children. 

Mr. Lewis acquired the character of an active and enterprising mer- 
chant. In the course of his commercial transactions, he visited several 
of the sea-ports of Russia, the Orkney and Shetland islands, and was twice 
shipwrecked on the Irish coast. 

During the French or Canadian war, he was agent for supplying the 
British troops, and was present, in 1756, at the surrender of Fort Oswe- 
go to the French general, de Montcalm. He exhibited great firmness 
and ability on the occasion ; and his services were held in such conside- 
ration by the British Government, that at the close of the war he received 
a grant of five thousand acres of land. 

The conditions upon which the garrison at Fort Oswego surrendered, 
were shamefully violated by de Montcalm. He allowed the chief war- 
rior of the Jndians, who assisted in taking the fort, to select about thirty 
of the prisoners, and do with them as he pleased. Of this number Mr. 
Lewis was one. Thus placed at the disposal of savage power, a speedy 
death was one of the least evils to be expected. It has been asserted, 
hov/ever, tiiat Mr. Lewis discovered that he Avas able to converse with 
the Indians, by reason of the similarity of the ancient language of 



PHILIP LIVINGSTON. 43 

Wales, which he understood, to their dialect.* His ability to communi- 
cate by words with the Chief, so pleased the latter, that he treated him 
kindly, and on arriving at Montreal, requested the French Governor to 
allow him to return to his family without ransom. The request, how- 
ever, was not granted, and Mr. Lewis was sent as a prisoner to France, 
from which country, being some time after exchanged, he returned to 
America. 

Although Mr. Lewis was not a native of America, yet his attachment 
to the country was early and devoted. He vigorously opposed the op- 
pressive measures of Great Britain, and esteemed liberty the choicest 
blessing that a nation can enjoy. His intellectual powers, and uniform 
nobility of sentiment, commanded the respect of the people ; and in 
1775, he was unanimously elected a delegate to Congress. He re- 
mained a member of that body through the following year, 1776, and 
was among the number who signed the Declaration of Independence. 
For several subsequent years, he was appointed to represent New York 
in the National Assembly ; and performed various secret and important 
services, with great fidelity and prudence. 

In 1775, Mr. Lewis removed his family, and effects, to a country-seat 
which he owned on Long Island. This proved an unfortunate step. In 
the autumn of the following year, his house was plundered by a party 
of British light-horse. His extensive library and valuable papers were 
wantonly destroyed. His wife fell into the power of the enemy, and 
was retained a prisoner for several months. During her captivity, she 
experienced the most atrocious treatment, being closely confined, and de- 
prived of a bed and sufficient clothing. By the influence of Washing- 
ton, she was at length released ; but her constitution had been so im- 
paired by her sufferings, that in a year or two, she sank into the grave. 

The latter days of Mr. Lewis were spent in comparative poverty. 
He died on the 30th day of December, 1803, in the ninetieth year of 
his age. 



PHILIP LIVINGSTON. 

Philip Livingston, was born at Albany, on the 15th of January, 1716. 
He was the fourth son of Gilbert Livingston, and his ancestors were 
highly respectable, holding a distinguished rank in New York, and pos- 
sessing a beautiful tract of land on the banks of the Hudson. This 
tract, since known as the Manor of Livingston, has belonged to the flimi- 
ly from that time to the present. 

Philip Livingston received his education at Yale College, where he was 
graduated in 1737. He soon after engaged extensively in commerce in 

* [t is almost needless to remark, that such an occurrence is, to say the best of u, 
extremely improbable. There exists no affinity between the ancient language of 
Wiles and that of any of the Indian tribes known in North A merica. 



44 PHILIP LIVINGSTON 

the city of New York, and was very successful in his transactions. In 
1754, he was elected an Alderman, and continued in the office for nine 
successive years. In 1759, he was returned a member to the General 
Assembly of the colony, where his talents and influence were most uee 
fully employed. His views were liberal and enlightened, and he 
did much to improve the commercial and agricultural facilities of the 
country. 

Previous to the revolution, it was usual for the respective colonies to 
have an agent in England, to manage their individual concerns with the 
British Government. This agent was appointed bj'' the popular branch 
of the Assembly. In 1770, the agent of the colony of New York dying, 
the celebrated Edmund Burke was chosen in his stead, and received for 
the office a salary of five hundred pounds. Between this gentleman and 
a committee of the Colonial Assembly, a correspondence was maintained : 
and upon their representations, the agent depended for a knowledge of 
the state of the colony. Of this committee, Mr. Livingston was a mem- 
ber. From his communications and those of his colleagues, Mr. Burke 
doubtless obtained that information of the state of the colonies, which he 
sometimes brought forward to the perfect surprise of the House of Com- 
mons, and upon which he often founded arguments, and proposed 
measures, which were not to be resisted. 

Mr. Livingston regarded with patriotic indignation, the measures by 
which the British ministry thought to humble the spirit of the colonies. 
His avowed sentiments, and the prominent part he had always taken in 
favor of the rights of the colonies, caused him to be elected, in 1774, a 
Delegate to the Continental Congress. He Avas also a member of the 
distinguished Congress of 1776, and was among those whose names are 
enduringly recorded on the great charter of their country's freedom and 
njtional existence. He was re-elected to the same Assembly the follow- 
in?- year, and was also chosen a Senator to the State Legislature, after 
the adoption of a new Constitution. He again took his seat in Congress, 
in May, 1778 ; but his health was shockingly impaired, and such was 
the nature of his disease, which was a dropsy in the chest, that no ra- 
tional prospect existed of his recovery. Before his departure from 
Albany, he took a final farewell of his family and friends, and expressed 
his conviction that he should not live to see them again. His anticipa- 
tions proved true. From the period of his return to Congress, his de- 
cline was rapid ; and he closed his valuable life on the 12th of June, 
1778. Suitable demonstrations of respect to his memory were paid by 
Congress ; and his funeral was publicly attended. 

Mr. Livingston married the daughter of Colonel Dirck Ten Broeck, 
by whom he had several children. His family has furnished many dis- 
tinguished characters. Mr. Livingston was amiable in his disposition, 
and a firm believer in the great truths of Christianity. He died respect- 
ed and esteemed by all who knew him. 



45 



THOMAS LYNCH. 

Thomas Lynch was born on the 5tli of Augjast, 1749, at Prince 
George's Parish, in South Carolina. 

Before he had reached the age of thirteen years, young Lynch was 
sent to England for his education. Having passed some time at the 
institution of Eaton, he was entered a member of the University of Cam- 
bridge, the degrees of which college he received in due course. He left 
Cambridge with a high reputation for classical attainments, and virtues 
of character; and entered his name at the Temple, with a view to the 
profession of law. After applying himself assiduously to the study of 
jurisprudence, and enriching himself both in mind and manners, with the 
numberless accomplishments of a gentleman, he returned to South Caro- 
lina, after an absence of eight or nine years. 

In 1775, on the raising of the first South Carolina regiment of provin- 
cial regulars, Mr. Lynch was appointed to the command of a company. 
Unfortunately, on his march to Charleston, at the head of his men, he 
was attacked by a violent fever, which greatly injvired his constitution, 
and from the effects of which, he never afterwards wholly recovered. 
He joined his regiment, but the enfeebled state of his health prevented 
him from performing the exertions, which he considered incumbent upon 
him. Added to this, he received afflicting intelligence of the illness of 
his father, at Philadelphia, and resplved to make arrangements to depart 
for that city. Upon applying for a furlough, however, he was denied 
by ihe commanding officer. Colonel Gadsden. But being opportunely 
elected to Congress, as the successor of his father, he was repaid for 
his disappointment, and lost no time in hastening to Philadelphia. 

The health of the younger Mr. Lynch, soon after joining Congress, 
began to decline with the most alarming rapidity. He continued, how- 
ever, his attendance upon that body, until the Declara*' m of Indepen- 
dence had been voted, and his signature affixed to it He then set' out 
for Carolina in company with his father ; but tb^ xife of the latter was 
terminated at Annapolis, by a second paralytic >.itack. 

Soon after this afflicting event, a change of climate was recommended 
to Mr. Lynch, as presenting the only chance of his recovery. He em- 
barked with his wife, on board a vessel proceeding to St. Eustatia, de- 
signing to proceed by a circuitous route to the south of France. From 
the time of their sailing, nothing more has been known of their 
fate ! Various rumors for a time were in circulation, which served to 
keep their friends in painful suspense ; but the conclusion finally adopt- 
ed was, that the vessel must have foundered at sea, and the faithful pair 
been consigned to a watery grave. 



46 



THOMAS M'KEAN. 

Thomas M'Kean was of Irish descent, and born in New-London 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of March, 1734. After com 
pleting the regular course of school instruction, he was entered as a 
student at law, in the office of David Finney, who resided in New Cas- 
tle, in Delaware. Before he had Jittained the age of twenty-one years, he 
commenced the practice of the (aw, in the Courts of Common Pleas, for 
the counties of New-Castle, Kent, and Sussex, and also in the Supreme 
Court. In 1757, he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 
Pennsylvania, and was elected Clerk of the House of Assembly. 

The political career of Mr. M'Kean commenced in 1762, at which 
time he was returned a member of the Assembly from the county of 
New-Castle. This county he continued to represent in the same body 
for several successive years, although the last six years of that period, he 
spent in Philadelphia. 

A Congress, usually called the Stamp Act Congress, assembled in 
New York in 1765, for the purpose of obtaining a redress of the grievanc- 
es under which the colonies then labored. Of this memorable body, 
Mr. M'Kean was a member, along with James Otis, and other celebrated 
men. 

A short time previous to the meeting of the Congress of 1774, Mr. 
M'Kean took up his permanent residence in the city of Philadelphia. 
The people of the lower counties on the Delaware, were desirous that he 
^ihould represent them in that body, and he was accordingly elected as 
their Delegate. On the 3d of September, he took his seat in Congress. 
From this time until the 1st of February, 1783, a period of eight years 
and a half, he was annually chosen a member of the great National 
Council. At the same time, Mr. M'Kean represented Delaware in Con- 
gress ; he was President of it in 1781, and from July, 1777, was the 
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. M'Kean was, from the first, decidedly in favor of a Declaration of 
Independence. He subscribed his name to the original instrument, but, 
by some mistake, it was omitted in the copy published in the journals of 
Congress. 

At the time Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, the 
situation of Washington and his army in New Jersey, was extremely 
precarious. On the 5th of July, it was agreed by several public com- 
mittees in Philadelphia, to dispatch all the associated militia of the State 
to the assistance of Washington. Mr. M'Kean was at this time Colonel 
of a regiment of associated militia. A few days subsequent to the De- 
claration of Independence, he was on his way to Perth Amboy, in New 
Jersey, at the head of his battalion. 

The associate militia being at length discharged, Mr. M'Kean returned 
to Philadelphia, and was present in Congress on the 2d of August, when 
the engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence was signed by 
the members. A few days after this, receiving intelligence of his being 
elected a member of the Convention in Delaware, assembled for the pur- 



ARTHUR MIDDLETON. 47 

pose of forming a Constitution for that State, he departed for Dover. 
Ahhough excessively fatigued, on his arrival, at the request of a committee 
of gentlemen of the Convention, he retired to his room in the public inn, 
where he was employed the whole night in preparing a Constitution for 
the future government of the State. This he did without the least 
assistance, and even without the aid of a book. At ten o'clock the next 
morning it was presented to the Convention, by whom it was unanimous- 
ly adopted. 

In 1777, Mr. M'Kean was chosen President of the State of Delaware, 
and during the same year was appointed Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. 
The duties of the latter station he discharged with great dignity and 
impartiality for twenty-two years. At the time of his accepting these 
offices, he was Speaker of the House of Assembly, and member of Con- 
gress. He was chosen President of Congress in 1781 ; and his conduct 
in the chair was highly honorable and satisfactory. 

Mr. M'Kean was a delegate from Philadelphia, in 1787, to the Con- 
vention assembled to ratify the Constitution of the United States. He 
was a principal leader in this assembly, and was an able and eloquent 
advocate for the adoption of the Constitution ; declaring it to be, in his 
consideration, " the best the world had yet seen." 

In 1799 he was elected a Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, and 
his administration continued for nine years. His course was ultimately 
beneficial to the State ; but the numerous removals from office of his 
political opponents produced considerable excitement, and perhaps placed 
his character in an unamiable light. During the years 1807 and 1808, 
an attempt was made to impeach him of certain crimes and misdemeanors ; 
and an inquiry was instituted by the Legislature into his official conduct. 
The result was an honorable acquittal from the charges alleged, and a 
total vindication of his character. 

In 1808, Mr. M'Kean retired from public life, having discharged the 
duties of a great variety of offices with much ability and reputation. 
He died on the 24th of June, 1817, in the eighty-third year of his age. 



ARTHUR MIDDLETON. 

Arthur Middleton was horn in the year 1743, in South Carolina, 
near the banks of the Ashley. At the age of twelve years, he was sent 
to the school of Hackney, near London ; and two years afterwards was 
sent to the school of Westminster. Here he soon became a proficient in 
classical literature, and gained the reputation of being an excellent Greek 
scholar. After several years spent in obtaining his education, and in 
foreign travel, Mr. Middleton returned to South Carolina. 

Soon after his return he married, and again embarked for Europe, 
accompanied by his wife. He possessed a great fondness for travelling, 
and during this tour visited many pJaces in England, and the principal 



48 LEWIS MORRIS. 

places of France and Spain. In 1773, Mr. Middleton again returned to 
America, and settled on the delightful banks of the Ashley. 

In the spring of 1775, Mr. Arthur Middleton was chosen one of a 
secret committee, who were authorized to place the colony in a state of 
defence ; and in June, the Provincial Assembly of South Carolina ap- 
pointed him a member of the Council of Safety. In the following year 
he was chosen on a committee to prepare a Constitution for the colony. 
Shortly afterwards he was elected a delegate from South Carolina to the 
Congress assembled at Philadelphia. Here he had an opportunity of 
inscribing his name on the great charter of American liberty. At the 
close of the year 1777, he resigned his seat, leaving behind a character 
for the purest patriotism and the most fearless decision. 

In 1778, Mr. Middleton was elected to the chair of Governor of 
South Carolina, which office had been left vacant in consequence of 
the resignation of John Rutledge, who had refused his assent to the 
new Constitution formed by the Legislature. But candidly avowing the 
same sentiments with the late Governor, Mr. Middleton conscientiously 
refused to accept the appointment, under the Constitution which had been 
adopted. The Assembly proceeded to another choice, and elected Mr. 
Lowndes to fill the vacancy, who gave his sanction to the new Constitu- 
tion. 

In the year 1779, many of the southern plantations were ravaged by 
the enemy, and that of Mr. Middleton did not escape. His valuable 
collection of paintings was much injured, but his family were fortunately 
absent from the place. On the surrender of Charleston, Mr. Middleton 
was taken prisoner, and, with several others, was sent by sea to St. Au- 
gustine, in East Florida, where he was kept in confinement for nearly a 
year. At length, in July, 1781, he was exchanged, and proceeded in a 
cartel to Philadelphia. On his arrival there, he was appointed a repre- 
sentative in Congress, to which office he was also elected the following 
year. 

In 1783, Mr. Middleton declined accepting a seat in Congress, but was 
afterwards occasionally a member of the State Legislature. He died on 
the 1st of January, 1787. 



LEWIS MORRIS. 



Lewis Morris was born at the manor of Morrisania, in the State of 
New York, in the year 1726. He was educated at Yale College, of which 
institution he received the honors. On his return home, he devoted 
himself to agriculture. When the dissensions with the mother country 
began, he was in a most fortunate condition ; with an ample estate, a 
fine family, an excellent constitution, literary taste, and general occupa- 
tions, of which he was fond. He renounced at once all these comforts 
and attractions, in order to assert the rights of his country. He was 
elected a delegate from New York to the Congress of 1775, wherein he 



I 



ROBERT MORRIS. 49 

served on the most important committees. He was placed on a commit- 
tee of which Washington was chairman, to devise means to supply thp 
colonies with ammunition ; and was appointed to the arduous task of 
detaching the western Indians from a coalition with Great Britain. On 
this errand, he repaired to Pittsburg, and acted with great zeal and 
address. In the beginning of 1776, he resumed his seat in Congress, 
where he continued a laborious and very useful member. 

When the subject of independence began to be openly talked of among 
the people of America, in none of the colonies was a greater unwilling- 
ness to the measure betrayed than among the inhabitants of New York. 
There were many, however, who were the determined opposers of all 
farther attempts at compromise ; and among the latter was Mr. Morris. 
When he signed the Declaration of Independence, it was at the most 
obvious risk of his rich and beautiful estate, the dispersion of his family, 
and the ruin of his domestic enjoyments and hopes. He manifested on 
the occasion a degree of patriotism and disinterestedness, which few had 
it in their power to display. 

It happened as was anticipated. The beautiful manor of Morrisania 
was laid waste by the hostile army ; and a tract of woodland of more 
than a thousand acres in extent was destroyed. Few men during the 
Revolution were called to make greater sacrifices than Mr. Morris ; and 
none could make them more cheerfully. 

He quitted Congress in 1777, and was afterwards a member of the 
State Legislature, and a Major General of militia. His latter years were 
devoted to the pursuit of agriculture ; his fondness for which was an amia- 
ble trait in his character. He died, very generally esteemed, on his 
paternal estate, in January, 1798, at the age of seventy-one years. 



ROBERT MORRIS. 



Robert BIorris, the great financier of the American Revolution, was 
born in Lancashire, England, January, 1733-4, O. S., of respecta- 
ble parentage. His father embarked for America, and caused him to 
follow at the age of thirteen. He received a respectable education, and 
before he reached his fifteenth year, was placed in the counting-house of 
Mr. Charles Willing, at that time one of the first merchants at Philadel- 
phia. His diligence and capacity gained him the full confidence of Mr. 
Willing, after whose death, he entered into partnership with his son, 
Thomas Willing, subsequently President of the bank of the United 
States. This connexion lasted from the year 1754 until 1793, — a 
period of thirty-nine years. 

At the commencement of the American Revolution, Mr. Morris was 
more extensively engaged in commerce than any other merchant of Phi- 
ladelphia. He zealously opposed the encroachments of the British Go- 
vernment on the liberties of the colonists, and embraced the popular 
cause, at the imminent sacrifice of his private interest and wealth. He 



50 ROBERT MORRIS. 

declared himself immediately against the stamp act, signed, without hesi- 
tation, the non-importation agreement of 1765, and, in so doing, made a 
direct sacrifice of trade. 

In 1775, Mr. Morris was elected, by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 
a delegate to the second General Congress. He was placed upon every 
committee of ways and means, and connected with all the deliberations 
and arrangements relative to the navy, maritime affairs, and financial in- 
terests. Besides aiding his country by his talents for business, his judg- 
ment, and his knowledge, he employed his extensive credit in obtaining 
loans, to a large amount, for the use of the Government. 

In May, 1777, he was elected a third time to Congress, and continued 
to be the chief director of the financial operations of the Government. 
In 1780, he proposed the establishment of a bank, the chief object of 
which was, to supply the army with provisions. He headed the list 
with a subscription of ten thousand pounds ; and others followed to the 
amo'aiil of three hundred thousand pounds. The institution was esta- 
blivshed, and continued until the bank of North America went into opera- 
tion in the following year. 

In 1781, Mr. Morris was appointed, by Congress, Superintendent of 
Finance. The state of the treasury, when he was appointed to its su- 
perintendence, was as bad as possible. Abroad, the public credit was 
every moment in danger of annihilation. At home, the greatest public, 
as well as private distress, prevailed. The treasury was so much in 
arrears to the servants of the public offices, that many of them could not 
without payment perform their duties, but must have gone to jail for 
debts they had contracted to enable them to live. It was even asserted, 
by some of the members of the board of war, that they had not the 
means of sending an express to the army. But the wasted and prostrate 
skeleton of public credit sprung to life and action at the reviving touch 
o< Robert Morris. The face of things was suddenly changed. Public 
and private credit was restored ; and it has been said, that " the Ameri- 
cans owe as much acknowledgment to the financial operations of Robert 
Morris, as to the negociations of Benjamin Franklin, or even the arms 
of George Washington." 

The establishment of the bank of North America was one of his first 
and most beneficial measures ; an institution which he himself planned, 
and to forward which, he pledged his personal credit to an immense 
amount. 

In 1786, Mr. Morris was chosen to the Assembly of Pennsylvania,; 
and the same year was elected a member of the Convention which 
framed the Federal Constitution. For the adoption of the present sys- 
tem, he was one of the most strenuous advocates. In 1788, the Gene- 
ral Assembly of Pennsylvania appointed him to represent the State in the 
first Senate of the United States, which assembled in New York. He 
was a fluent and impressive speaker ; and wrote with great ease and 
power. His conversation was replete with interest and instruction. 
When the Federal Government was organized, Washington offered him 
ihe post of Secretary of the Treasury, which he declined ; and, being 
requested to designate a person for it, he named General Hamilton. At 



JOHN MOTITON. 51 

the conclusion of the war, he was among the first who engaged in tba 
East India and China trade. He was, also, the first who made an at- 
tempt to effect what is termed an out of season passage to China. 

In his latter days, Mr. Morris embarked in vast land speculations, 
which proved fatal to his fortune. The man who had so immensely con- 
tributed to our national existence and independence, passed the closing 
years of his life in a prison ; a beautiful commentary upon those laws 
which make no distinction between guilt and misfortune, and condemn 
the honest debtor to the punishment of the convicted felon ! He died on 
the 8th of May, 1806, in the seventy-third year of his age. 

Until the period of his impoverishment, the house of Mr. Morris was 
a scene of the most lavish hospitality. It was open, for nearly half a 
century, to all the respectable strangers who visited Philadelphia. He 
was active in the acquisition of money, but no one more freely parted 
with his gains. No one pursued a more enlightened policy, or mani- 
fested through life a greater degree of humanity, virtue, energy, and 
gentlemanly spirit, than Robert Morris. 



JOHN MORTON. 



John Morton was born in the county of Chester, (now Delaware,) in 
Pennsylvania. His ancestors were of Swedish extraction ; and his father 
died a few months previous to his birth. 

About the year 1 "^64, Mr. Morton was sent as a delegate to the General 
Assembly of Pennsylvania, of which he continued for several years an 
active and distinguished member. He was also appointed to attend the 
General Congress at New York. In 1766, he was made sheriff" of the 
county in which he resided, and, shortly after, was elevated to a seat on. 
the bench, in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. He was deputed to 
the Congress of 1774; and continued to represent Pennsylvania in that 
assembly through the memorable session of 1776. On the question of 
declaring independence, in the latter year, the delegation from Pennsyl- 
vania being divided, Mr. Morton gave his casting vote in the affirmative. 
This was an act of great intrepidity, under all the circumstances of the 
case ; and placed upon him a fearful load of responsibility. But he did 
not hesitate to assume it. The rnemies of the measure were exasperated 
at his conduct ; but on his death-bed, he desired his attendants to tell his 
revilers, that the hour would come, when it would be acknowledged, that 
his vote in favor of American Independence was the most illustrious act 
of his life. It is needless to observe how fully and comprehensively 
his prophetic annunciation has been fulfilled. 

In 1777, Mr. Morton assisted in organizing a system of confederation. 
for the colonies, and was chairman of the committee of the whole, at the 
time when it was agreed to. Dur-i.g the same year, he was seized with an 
inflammatory fever,, and died on the 15th of November, in the fifty-fourth 
year of his age. He left behind a character for piety, liberality, and 
patriotism, which his actions are sufficient to substantiate. 



5^ 



THOMi^S NELSON, Jln. 

Thomas Nelson was born at York, in Virginia, on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1738. At the age of fourteen, he was sent to England, and placed 
at a private school in the neighborhood of London. He was afterwards 
removed to the University of Cambridge, where he enjoyed the instruc- 
tion of the eminent Doctor Porteus, subsequently Bishop of London. 
About the close of 1761, he returned to his native country, and, in the 
following year, married the daughter of Philip Grymes, Esq., of Bran- 
don. His ample fortune enabled him to indulge his spirit of hospitality 
to its fullest extent, and to live in a style of unusual elegance. 

It is not determined with certainty at what period the political career of 
Mr. Nelson commenced. He was a member of the House of Burgesses 
in 1774, and during the same year was deputed to the first general Con- 
vention of the province which met at Williamsburg on the 1st of Au- 
gust. The next year he was again returned a member to the General 
Convention, and introduced a resolution for organizing a military force 
in the province. 

In July, 1775, Mr. Nelson was appointed a delegate from Virginia to 
the General Congress about to assemble at Philadelphia. He retained 
his seat in this body until 1777. In May of that year, he was obliged 
to resign all serious occupation, in consequence of a disease in the head. 
When relieved from this malady, his energies were again called into 
action, and he was appointed Brigadier General and Commander in chief 
of the forces of the commonwealth. In this office, he rendered the most 
important service to his country, and in times of emergency often advan- 
ced money, to carry forward the military operations. In 1779, he was 
again chosen to Congress ; but a close application to business produced 
a recurrence of his former complaint, and he was again compelled to 
return home. 

Soon after his recovery. General Nelson entered with animation into 
several military expeditions against the British, who, at that time, were 
making the southern States the chief theatre of war. It was owing to 
his measures that the army was kept together, until the capture of York- 
town terminated the war. For this service. Governor Nelson had the 
pleasure of receiving the acknowledgments of Washington, who, in his 
general orders of the 20th of October, 1781, thus spoke of him : " The 
General would be guilty of the highest ingratitude, a crime of which he 
hopes he shall never be accused, if he forgot to return his sincere 
acknowledgments to his Excellency Governor Nelson, for the succors 
which he received from him, and the militia under his command, to 
whose activity, emulation, and bravery, the highest praises are due." 

A month subsequent to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Governor 
Nelson resigned his station in consequence of ill health, and immediately 
afterwards was accused, by his enemies, of having transcended his powers 
"n acting without the consent of his council ; but he was honorably 
acquitted by the Legislature, before whom the charge was preferred. 
He died on the 4th of January, 1789, just after he had completed his 
fiftieth year. 



53 



WILLIAM PACA. 

William Paca was born on the 31st of October, 1740. He was the 
second son of John Paca, a gentleman of large estate, who resided in 
Hartford county, Maryland. After receiving his degree of bachelor of 
arts at the College of Philadelphia, in 1759, he studied law, and, when 
admitted to the bar, established himself at Annapolis. 

In 1771, Mr. Paca was chosen a representative of the county m the 
Legislature. At this time much contention existed between the proprie- 
tary government of Maryland, and the people. Mr. Paca, who repre- 
sented the people in this body, proved himself a staunch and determined 
assertor of their rights, which no one more clearly understood. He 
zealously opposed the avaricious proceedings of the Proprietor and his 
partizans ; and manifested on all occasions a settled hostility to tyranny 
and oppression. 

Mr. Paca was a delegate from Maryland to the Continental Congress 
of 1774; and was re-appointed to the same station until the year 1778, 
at the close of which he retired. He was an open advocate for a Decla- 
ration of Independence, as were several of his colleagues. A majority 
of the people of Maryland, however, were not prepared for such a 
measure. A change was afterwards effected among the people in relation 
to this subject. The Convention of Maryland recalled their prohibitory 
instructions to their delegates ; and Mr. Paca gladly received permission 
to vote according to the dictates of his own fearless and unshackled judg- 
ment. 

In 1778, Mr. Paca was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
of Maryland, an office which he continued to exercise with great ability 
until 1780, when he was made by Congress Chief Judge of the Court of 
Appeals in prize and admiralty cases. In 1782, he was elected Governor 
of his native State. He was distinguished for great correctness and 
integrity in the discharge of the duties of this station, and manifested a 
peculiar regard for the interests of religion and literature. At the close 
of the year he retired to private life. In 1786, he again accepted the 
executive chair, and continued in it for a year. On the organization ot 
the Federal Government, in 1789, he received from Washington the 
appointment of Judge of the District Court of the United States for Ma- 
ryland. This office he held until the year 1799, when he died in the 
sixtieth year of his age. 



ROBERT TREAT PAINE. 

Robert Treat Paine was born in Boston, in 1731. 

At the age of fourteen years, he became a member of Harvard college, 
and after leaving it, kept, for a period, a public school, the fortune of his 
father having been considerably reduced. With the view of obtaining 



54 ROBERT TREAT PAINE. 

more ample me ins for the maintenance of his parents, he also made a 
voyage to Eiirope. Before entering on the study of the law, he devoted 
some time to the subject of theology. In 1775, he acted as chaplain to 
the troops of the provinces at the northward, and afterwards preached oc- 
casionally in other places. At length he applied himself earnestly to the 
study of the law. On being admitted to the bar, he established himself 
at Taunton, in the county of Bristol, where he resided for many years. 
In 1768, he was chosen a Delegate from that town to the Convention 
called by the leading men of Boston, in consequence of the abrupt dis- 
solution of the General Court, by Governor Bernard. 

In 1770, Mr. Paine was engaged in the celebrated trial of Captain 
Preston, and his men, for the part which they acted in the well known 
Boston massacre. On this occasion, in the absence of the Attorney 
General, he conducted the prosecution on the part of the crown. He 
managed the case with great credit and ability, and received from it a 
considerable degree of distinction. In 1773, he was elected a Represen- 
tative to the General Assembly from Taunton ; and was afterwards 
chosen a member of the Continental Congress, which met at Philadel- 
phia. The following year he was re-elected. 

Of the Congress of 1776, Mr. Paine was also a member ; and to the 
Declaration of Independence, gave his vote and signed his name. 

In 1780, Mr. Paine was sent to the Convention which met to delibe- 
rate respecting a Constitution for the State of Massachusetts ; and of the 
committee which framed the instrument he was a conspicuous member. 
Under the government organized, he was appointed Attorney General, an 
office which he held until 1790, when he was transferred to a seat on the 
bench of the Supreme Judicial Court. In this station, he continued till his 
seventy-third year. His legal attainments were extensive ; and he dis- 
charged his judicial functions with the most rigid impartiality. Indeed, 
his strict fidelity sometimes gave him the reputation of unnecessary se- 
verity ; but the charge could only have proceeded from the lawless and 
licentious. His memory was uncommonly retentive ; and his conversa- 
tion was marked by great brilliancy of wit, and quickness of apprehen- 
sion. If he sometimes indulged in raillery, he evinced no ill humor at 
oeing the subject of it in his turn. He was an excellent scholar ; and to 
literary and religious institutions rendered important services. The 
death of Judge Paine occurred on the 11th of May, 1814 ; he having at- 
tained the age of eighty-four years. 

He was a founder of the American Academy, established in Massachu- 
.setts in 1780, and continued his services to it until his death. The 
degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Harvard Collef* 



55 



JOHN PENN. 

John Penn was born in Caroline county, Virginia, on the 17th of 
May, 1741. His early education was greatly neglected; and at his fa- 
ther's death, in 1759, he became the sole manager of the fortune left him, 
which, though not large, was competent. 

At the age of twenty-one, he was licensed as a practitioner of law. 
He rose rapidly into notice; and was soon eminently distinguished as an 
advocate. 

In 1744, Mr. Penn moved to the province of North Carolina, where he 
attained as high a rank in his profession, as he had done in Virginia. The 
following year he was chosen a Delegate from North Carolina to the 
General Congress, in which body he took his seat on the 12lh of Octo- 
ber. He was successively re-elected to Congress, in the years 1777, 
1778, and 1779, and Avas respected for his promptitude and fidelity in 
the discharge of the duties assigned him. He was seldom absent from 
his seat, and was a watchful guardian of the rights and liberties of his 
constituents. He was urgent in forwarding the measures which led to 
the total emancipation of the colonies. 

After the return of peace, Mr. Penn betook himself to private retire- 
ment. The even tenor of his way was marked by few prominent inci- 
dents after this period. He departed from this world, September, 1788, 
at the age of forty-six years. He had three children, two of whom died 
unmarried. 



GEORGE READ. 



George Read was born in Maryland, in the year 1734. Being de- 
signed by his parents for one of the learned professions, he was placed 
at a seminary at Chester, in Pennsylvania. Having there acquired the 
rudiments of the languages, he was transferred to the care of the accom- 
plished Dr. Allison, with whom he remained until his seventeenth year. 
He was then placed in the office of John Morland, Esq., a lawyer in the 
city of Philadelphia, for the purpose of fitting himself for the legal pro- 
fession. 

In 1753, at the age of nineteen years, Mr. Read was admitted to the 
bar. In the year following, he commenced the practice of the law, in the 
town of New-Castle. In 1763, ho was appointed Attorney General of 
the three lower counties on the Delaware. In the year 1765, Mr. Read 
was elected a Representative from New-Castle county, to the General 
Assembly of Delaware, i post which he occupied for twelve years. 

On the first of August, 1774, Mr. Read was chosen a Delegate from 
Delaware to the Continental Congress. To this station he was annually 
re-elected, during the whole revolutionary war. Mr. Read did not vote 
for the Declaration of Independence. But when, at length, the measure 



^6 C JESAR RODNEY. 

had received the sanction of the great National Council, and the time 
arrived for signing the instrument, Mr. Read affixed his signature to it, 
with all the cordiality of those who had voted in its favor. 

Mr. Read was President of the Convention which formed the first Con- 
stitution of the State of Delaware. In 1782, he accepted the appoint- 
ment of Judge of the Court of Appeals, in admiralty cases, an office 
which he held until the abolition of the court. In 1787, he represented 
the State uf Delaware, in the Convention which framed the Constitution 
of the United States, under which he was immediately chosen a member 
of the Senate. The duties of this exalted station, he discharged till 
1793, when he accepted of a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of 
Delaware, as Chief Justice. He died in this office, in the autumn of 
1798. 

The legal attainments of Mr. Read were extensive ; and his decisions 
are still respected as precedents of no slight authority. In private life he 
was esteemed for an expanded benevolence to all around him. 



C^SAR RODNEY. 



C^sAR Rodney was a native of Dover, in Delaware, where he was 
born about the year 1730. He inherited from his father a large landed 
estate. At the age of twenty-eight, he was appointed High Sheriff 
in the county where he resided, and on the expiration of his term 
of service, was created a Justice of the Peace and a Judge of the 
lower Courts. In 1762, and perhaps at an earlier date, he represent- 
ed the county of Kent, in the Provincial Legislature. In the year 
1765, he was sent to the first General Congress, which assembled at 
New York, to adopt the necessary measures for obtaining a repeal of the 
stamp act, and other odious measures of the British ministry. 

In 17C9, Mr. Rodney was elected Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, an office which he continued to fill for several years. About 
the same time, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee of Cor- 
respondence with the other colonies. He was a member of the well- 
known Congress of 1774; when he had for his colleagues, Thomas 
M'Koan, and George Read. 

At the time that the question of independence came before Congress, 
Mr. Rodney was absent on a tour of duty, in the southern part of Dela- 
ware. Mr. M'Kean, and Mr. Read, his colleagues, were divided upon 
the subject. Aware of the importance of an unanimous vote, Mr. 
M'Kean dispatched, at his private expense, an express into Delaware, to 
acquaint Mr. Rodney of the delicate posture of affairs, and to hasten his 
return to Philadelphia. With great exertion, he arri^'fi on the spot, 
just as the members were entering the door of the State-House, at the 
final discussion of the subject. 

In the autumn of 1776, a Convention was called in Delaware, for the 
purpose of framing a new Constitution, and of appointing delegates to 



GEORGE EOSS, 57 

the succeeding Congress. In this Convention, the influence of the roy- 
alists proved sufficiently strong to deprive Mr. Rodney of his seat in Con- 
gress. He remained, hovsrever, a member of the Council of Safety, and 
of the Committee of Inspection, in both of which offices he exerted him- 
self with great diligence. In 1777, he repaired in person to the camp 
near Princeton, where he remained for nearly two months, in the most 
active and laborious employment. During the same year, he was re- 
appointed a delegate to Congress, but, before taking his seat, was elected 
President of the State. In the latter office he continued for about four 
years, at the close of which period he retired from public life. He was 
again elected to Congress, but it does not appear that he ever after took 
his seat in that body. A cancer, which had afflicted him for some time, 
and which had greatly disfigured his face, now increased its ravages, 
and, in the early part of the year 1783, brought him to the grave. Mr. 
Rodney was distinguished for a remarkable degree of good humor and 
vivacity ; and in generosity of character, was an ornament to human 
nature. 



GEORGE ROSS. 



George Ross was born at New-Castle, Delaware, in the year 1730. 
At the age of eighteen, he entered upon the study of the law, and when 
admitted to the bar established himself at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 
Here he married, and devoted himself, with great zeal to the duties of 
his profession. 

Mr. Ross commenced his political career in 1768, when he was sent a 
representative to the Assembly of his adopted State. Of this body he 
continued a member until the year 1774, when he was elected a Dele- 
gate to the Continental Congress. To this office he was annually re- 
elected till January, 1777, when he retired. The high sense entertained 
by his constituents, of his public services and patriotism, was expressed, 
not merely by thanks, but by a present of one hundred and fifty pounds. 
This offer was respectfully but firmly declined. 

Mr. Ross was an active and influential member of the Provincial Le- 
gislature. He was also a member of the Convention which assembled 
to prepare a declaration of rights on behalf of the State, and to define 
what should be considered high treason against it. In 1779, he was ap- 
pointed a Judge of the Court of Admiralty, for the State of Pennsylva- 
nia. In July of the same year, he died of a sudden attack of the gout, 
in the fiftieth year of his age. He left behind him the reputation of a 
thorough and skilful lawyer, a consistent politician, and an estimable 



man. 



58 



BENJAMIN RUSH. 

Benjamin Rush was born in Byberry, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of 
December, 1745. His father died when he was only six years of age, 
and the care of his education devolved upon his mother, whose prudent 
management of her son may be learned from the result. 

After completing his preparatory studies, he was entered, in 1759, a 
student in the college of Princeton. On leaving college, he commenced 
the study of medicine, under the superintendence of Dr. Redman, of Phi- 
ladelphia. In 1766, he went to Edinburgh, where he spent two years at 
the university in that city, and from which he received the degree of M. D., 
in 1768. The next winter after his graduation he passed in London, 
and having visited France, he returned, in the autumn of the same year, 
to Philadelphia, and commenced the practice of medicine. In 1769, he 
was elected professor of chemistry in the college of Philadelphia ; and 
was afterwards appointed professor of the institutes, and practice of medi- 
cine, and of clinical practice, in the same university. 

In the year 1793, Philadelphia was visited by that horrible scourge, 
the yellow fever. For some time after its commencement, no successful 
system of management was resorted to. Dr. Rush afterwards met with 
a manuscript, which contained an account of the yellow fever, as it pre- 
vailed in Virginia, in 1741, and which was given to him by Dr. Frank- 
lin, and had been written by Dr. Mitchell, of Virginia. In this manu- 
script, the efficacy of powerful evacuants was urged, even in cases of 
extreme debility. This plan Dr. Rush adopted, and imparted the pre- 
scription to the college of physicians. An immense accession of busi- 
ness was the consequence, and his mode of treatment was wonderfully 
successful. The following entry, dated September 10th, is found in his 
notebook : " Thank God, out of one hundred patients, whom I visited 
or prescribed for this day, I have lost none." 

Between the 8th and 15th of September, Dr. Rush visited and pre- 
scribed for a hundred and a hundred and twenty patients a day. In the 
short intervals of business, which he spent at his meals, his house was 
filled with patients, chiefly the poor, waiting for his gratuitous advice. 
For many weeks he seldom ate without prescribing for many as he sat 
at table. While thus endangering his health and his life by excess of 
practice. Dr. Rush received repeated letters from his friends in the coun- 
try, entreating him to leave the city. To one of these letters he replied, 
' that he had resolved to stick to his principles, his practice, and his pa- 
tients, to the last extremity." 

The incessant labors of Dr. Rush, during this awful visitation, nearly 
prostrated his constitution ; but he was finally so far restored as to re- 
sume the duties of his profession. His mode of treatment was also 
called into question by many of his contemporaries, notwithstanding the 
success Avhich had attended it. At length the prejudices against him infect- 
ed not only physicians, but a considerable part of the community. The 
public journals were enlisted against him, and in numerous pamphlets 
his system was attacked with great severity. He was even called a 



BENJAMIN RUSH. 59 

murderer, and was at length threatened to be prosecuted and expelled 
the city. 

Notwithstanding the great labors of Dr. Rush as a lecturer and prac- 
titioner, he was a voluminous writer. His printed works consist of seven 
volumes, six of which treat of medical subjects, and the other is a collec- 
tion of essays, literary, moral, and philosophical. He was a constant 
and indefatigable scholar. He extracted so largely from the magazine of 
information accumulated in the mind of Benjamin Franklin, that he 
once mentioned to a friend, his intention of writing a book with the title 
of Franklin iana, in which he proposed to collect the fragments of wis- 
dom, which he had treasured in his memory, as they fell in conversation 
from the lips of that great man. 

Doctor Rush was a member of the celebrated Congress of 1776, which 
declared these States free and independent. The impulse given to 
learning and science by this event he used to estimate of incalculable 
value. In 1777, he was appointed Physician General of the military 
hospital in the middle department. In 1787, he became a member of 
the Convention of Pennsylvania, for the adoption of the Federal Consti- 
tution. This instrument received his warmest approbation. For the 
last fourteen years of his life, he was Treasurer for the United States 
Mint, by appointment of President Adams. 

Doctor Rush took a deep interest in the many private associations, for 
the advancement of human happiness, with which Pennsylvania abounds. 
He led the way in the establishment of the Philadelphia Dispensary, and 
was the principal agent in founding Dickinson College, in Carlisle. For 
some years he was President of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, 
and also of the Philadelphia Medical Society. He was a founder of the 
Philadelphia Bible Society, and a Vice-President of the American Philo- 
sophical Society. He was an honorary member of many of the literary 
institutions, both of this country and of Europe. In 1805, he was 
honored by the King of Prussia, with a medal, for his replies to certain 
questions on the yellow fever. On a similar account, he was presented 
with a gold medal in 1807, from the Queen of Etruria ; and in 1811, 
the Emperor of Russia sent him a diamond ring, as a testimony of his 
respect for his medical character. 

The pen of Doctor Rush was powerfully employed against some of 
the vices and habits of mankind. His " Inquiry into the effects of ar- 
dent spirits upon the human body and mind," has been more read than 
any of his works. He was a brilliant and eloquent lecturer ; and he 
possessed in a high degree those talents which engage the heart. 

The life of Doctor Rush was terminated on the 19th of April, 1813, 
in the sixty-eighth year of his age. During his illness, which was but 
of few days' continuance, his house was beset by crowds of citizens, such 
was the general anxiety in respect to this excellent man. When at 
length he died, the news of his decease spread a deep gloom over the 
city, and expressions of profound sympathy were received from all parts 
of the country. 



60 



EDWARD RUTLEDGE. 

Edward Rutledge was born in Charleston, South Carolina, November, 
1749. After receiving a respectable education in the learned languages, 
be commenced the study of the law with his elder brother, who, at that 
time, was becoming the most eminent advocate at the Charleston bar. 

When arrived at the age of twenty-one years, Edward Rutledge sailed 
for England, to complete his legal education. In 1773, he returned to 
his native country, and began the practice of his profession. He soon 
became distinguished for his quickness of apprehension, fluency of speech, 
and graceful delivery. The general estimation in which his talents were 
held, was evinced in 1774, by his appointment to- the General Congress 
as delegate from South Carolina. He was at this 'time but twenty-five 
years of age. 

In the Congress of 1776, Mr. Rutledge took a conspicuous part in the 
discussions, which preceded the Declaration of Independence. At a sub- 
sequent date, he was appointed, with Doctor Franklin and John Adams, 
a commissioner to wait upon Lord Howe, who had requested Congress 
to appoint such a committee to enter with him into negociations for peace. 
Mr. Rutledge was again elected to Congress in 1779 ; but in consequence 
of ill health, he was unable to reach the seat of government, and returned 
home. In 1780, during the investment of Charleston by the British, he 
was taken prisoner by the enemy, and sent to St. Augustine, where he 
was detained nearly a year before he was exchanged. 

On the evacuation of Charleston by the British, he returned to the 
place of his nativity, and; for the space of seventeen years, was success- 
fully engaged in the practice of his profession ; rendering from time to 
time important services to the State, as a member of her Legislature. 
In 1798, he relinquished his station at the bar, and was elected Chief 
Magistrate of South Carolina. He continued to perform the duties of 
this office until within a short time before his death, which took place on 
the 23d day of January, 1800. Military and other honors were paid to 
his memory ; and universal regret was expressed at his departure. 



ROGER SHERMAN. 



Roger Sherman was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on the 19th of 
April, 1721. He Avas early apprenticed to a shoemaker, and followed 
the business of one for some time after he was twenty-two years of age. 
The father of Roger Sherman died in 1741, leaving his family, which 
was quite numerous, dependent upon his son for support. He entered 
upon the task with great cheerfulness. Towards his mother, whose life 
was protracted to a great age, he always manifested the tenderest affec- 
tion, and assisted two of his younger brothers to qualify themselves for 
clergymen. 



ROGER SHERMAN. 61 

An elder brother had established himself in New Milford, Connecticut. 
In 1743, the family of Mr. Sherman removed to that place, and he again 
commenced business as a shoemaker ; but not long after, he entered into 
partnership with his brother, whose occupation was that of a country 
merchant. The mind of Roger Sherman was invincibly bent upon the 
acquisition of knowledge. The variety and extent of his attainments. 
even at this time, were almost incredible. He soon became known in 
the county of Litchfield, where he resided, as a man of superior talents, 
and of unusual skill in the science of mathematics. At the early age of 
twenty-four, he was appointed to the office of county surveyor. At this 
time, he had also made no trifling advances in the science of astronpmy. 
As early as 1748, he supplied the astronomical calculations for an alma- 
nac, published in New York, and continued to furnish them /or several 
succeeding years. 

In 1749, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Hartwell, of Stoughton, in 
Massachusetts. After her decease, in 1760, he married Miss Rebecca 
Prescot, of Danvers, in the same State. By these wives he had fifteen 
children. 

In 1754, Mr. Sherman was admitted as an attorney to the bar. The 
circumstance which led to his study of the profession was merely acci- 
dental, and an accident which, in a mind less decided and persevering 
than that of Sherman, would have passed away without improvement. 
He became rapidly distinguished as a counsellor, and the year following 
his admission to the bar, was appointed a Justice of the Peace for New 
Milford, which town he also represented in the Colonial Assembly. In 
1759, he Avas appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the 
county of Litchfield, which office he held for two years. At the expira- 
tion of that time, he became a resident of New Haven, 'of which town 
he was soon after appointed a Justice of the Peace, and often represented 
it in the Colonial Assembly. In 1765, he was made a Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas, and about the same time was appointed Trea- 
surer of Yale College, which institution bestowed upon him the honorary 
degree of Master of Arts. 

In 1766, Mr. Sherman was elected a member of the Upper House, in 
the General Assembly of Connecticut ; and during the same year he 
was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court. He continued a member 
of the Upper House for nineteen years, until 1785, when the two offices 
which he held being considered incompatible, he relinquished his seat 
at the council board, preferring his station as a Judge. The latter office 
he continued to exercise until 1789, when he resigned it on being chosen 
to Congress, under the Federal Constitution. 

Mr. Sherman was a delegate to the celebrated Congress of 1774, and 
continued uninterruptedly a member of that body, until his death in 1793 
His services during his congressional career were many and important. 
He was employed on numerous committees, and was indefatigable in the 
investigation of complicated and difficult subjects. In 1776, he received 
the most flattering testimony of the high respect in which he was 
held, in being associated with Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Livings- 
ton, in the responsible duty of preparing the Declaration of Independence. 



62 JAMES SMITH. 

In the State where he resided, Mr. Sherman continued to receive repeated 
demonstrations of the esteem with which his fellow citizens regarded 
him. 

Under the new Constitution, Mr. Sherman was elected a Kepresenta- 
tive to Congress from the State of Connecticut. At the expiration of 
two years, a vacancy occurring in the Senate, he was elevated to a seat 
in that body. In this office he died on the 23d of July, 1793, in the 
seventy-third year of his age. 

A predominant trait in the character of Roger Sherman was his prac- 
tical wiMlom. Although inferior to many in rapidity of genius, he was 
surpa^^sed by none in clearness of apprehension, energy of mind, ol 
honesty of action. A remark of Jefl'erson bears testimony to the 
strength and soundness of his intellect. " That is Sherman," said he to 
a Inend, to whom he was pointing out the most remarkable men of Con- 
gress, " a man who never said a foolish thing in his life." Not less 
honorable to the integrity of his character, is the remark of Fisher Ames, 
who was wont to say : " If I am absent during the discussion of a sub- 
ject, and consequently know not on which side to vote, I always look at 
Koger Sherman, for I am sure if I vote toith him I shall vote right." 



JAMES SMITH. 



James Smith was born in Ireland, but at what period has not been 
ascertained. His father was a respectable farmer, who removed to 
America with a numerous family, and settled on the west side of the 
Susquehanna river. 

After being qualified for the profession of the law, Mr. Smith took up 
his residence as a lawyer and survej^or, near the present town of Ship- 
pensburg ; but he subsequently removed to the flourishing village of 
York, where he continued the practice of his profession during the re- 
mainder of his life. On the commencement of the difhculties with the 
mother country, he resolutely enlisted himself on the patriotic side, and 
became an uncompromising opposer of the insulting aggressions of the 
British Government. He was chosen a delegate to all the patriotic 
meetings of the Province, and was always in favor of the most vigorous 
and decided measures. He was the first one who raised a volunteer 
corps in Pennsylvania, in opposition to the armies of Great Britain ; and 
was elected captain, and afterwards colonel of a regiment. In January, 
1775, he was a delegate to the Convention for the H'ovince of Pennsyl- 
vania, and concurred in the spirited declarations of that Assembly. 

In the month of July, a Convention was held in Philadelphia, for the 
purpose of forming a new Constitution for Pennsylvania. Of this body, 
Mr, Smith was a member, and by it he was chosen a Delegate to Con- 
gress. He continued to represent his constituents for several years in 
the great National Assembly, and was always active and efficient in the 
discharge of his duties. On withdrawing from Congress, in November, 



RICHARD STOCKTON 63 

1788, he resumed his professional pursuits, which he continued to ex- 
ercise until the year 1800, when he withdrew from the bar, having prac- 
tised the law for about sixty years. He died in the year 1806. 



RICHARD STOCKTON. 

RicnARD Stockton was born near Princeton, New Jersey, on the first 
day of October, 1730, and received his education at the college in hia 
native State, where he graduated at the age of eighteen. • 

On leaving college, Mr. Stockton commenced the study of the law, 
and on his admission to the bar, rose quickly to an enviable distinc- 
tion. About the year 1767, he relinquished his professional business 
for the purpose of visiting Great Britain. During his tour through the 
united countries, he was received with great attention. On visiting Ed- 
inburgh, he was complimented with a public dinner, by the authorities 
of that city, the freedom of which was unanimously conferred upon him. 
During his stay in Scotland, he was so fortunate as to induce the Eeve- 
rend Dr. Witherspoon, of Paisley, to remove to America, and accept the 
presidency of New Jersey College. 

On his return to this country, Mr. Stockton stood high in the royal fa- 
vor, and was appointed one of the Royal Judges of the Province, and a 
member of the Executive Council. But on the commencement of the ag- 
gravating system of oppression by which the mother country hoped to 
humiliate the colonists, he separated himself from the Royal Council, 
and joyfully concurred in all the Ijberal measures of the day. On the 
21st of June, 1776, he was elected a Delegate to the General Congress, 
then sitting in Philadelphia. Here he discharged, with fidelity and energy, 
all the duties assigned him ; and on the agitation of the great question 
of independence, he addressed the House in its behalf. 

On the 30th of November, Mr. Stockton was unfortunately taken pri- 
soner by a party of refugee royalists. He was dragged from his bed at 
night, and carried to New York. Here he was treated with the utmost 
rigor and indignity. Congress remonstrated with General Howe in his 
behalf, and he was finally released from his captivity; but the iron 
had entered his soul. His constitution had experienced an irreparable 
shock, and his ample fortune was completely reduced. He continued to 
languish for several years, and at length died, at his residence in Prince- 
ton, on the 28th of February, 1781, in the fifty-third year of his age. 
His character was in every respect estimable. He possessed a cultivated 
taste for literature, and was a polished and eloquent speaker. 

60 



64 



THOMAS STONE. 

Thomas Stone was born in Charles county, Maryland, in 1743. He 
was a descendant of William Stone, who was Governor of Maryland 
during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. 

After acquiring a tolerable acquaintance with the learned languages, he 
entered upon the study of the law. Having obtained a competent 
knowledge of the profession, he commenced practice in Fredericktown, 
Maryland. After residing at this place two years, he removed to 
Charles county, in the same State. At the age of twenty-eight, he re- 
ceived by marriage, the sum of one thousand pounds sterling ; and Avith 
it purchased a farm near the village of Port Tobacco, upon which he 
continued to reside during the revolutionary struggle. Although his busi- 
ness was b)?^ no means lucrative, nor his fortune considerable, his well 
known honesty and ability caused him to be sent a Delegate to the Con- 
gress of 1776, to which body he was elected for several subsequent 
years. After the Maryland Legislature had relieved him and his col- 
leagues of the restrictions which bound them, he joyfully affixed his 
name to the Declaration of Independence. 

Mr. Stone was a member of the committee appointed by Congress to 
prepare Articles of Confederation ; and the manner in which he dis- 
charged the duties devolving upon him in that station, was highly satis- 
factory. After seeing the Confederation finally agreed upon in Congress, 
he declined a re-appointment to that body, but became a member of the 
Legislature of his native State. In 1783, he was again chosen to Con- 
gress ; and in the session of 1784, acted for some time as President pro 
tempore. On the adjournment of Congress this year, he retired from 
tliat body, and engaged actively in the duties of his profession. His 
practice now became lucrative in Annapolis, whither he had removed ; 
and he soon rose to distinction at the bar. As an advocate, he excelled 
in strength of argument ; and was often employed in cases of great dif- 
ficulty. 

Mr. Stone died on the 5th of October, 1787, in the forty-fikn year of 
his age, and while on the point of embarking for Europe, for the benefit 
of his health. 



GEORGE TAYLOR. 



George Taylor was born in Ireland, in the year 1716. At a suitable 
age he commenced the study of medicine ; but his genius not being 
adapted to his profession, he relinquished his medical studies, and soon 
after set sail for America. On his arrival he was entirely destitute of 
money, and was obliged to resort to manual labor to pay the expenses 
of his voyage. He was first engaged in the iron works of Mr. Savage, 
at Durham, on the Delaware, and was afterwards taken into his count- 



MATTHEW THORNTON. 65 

ing-room as a clerk. In this situation, he rendered himself very aseful, 
and, at length, upon the death of Mr. Savage, he became connected in 
marriage with his widow, and consequently the proprietor of the whole 
establishment. In a few years, the fortune of Mr. Taylor was considerably 
augmented. He now purchased a handsome estate, near the river Le- 
high, in the county of Northampton, where he erected a spacious man- 
sion, and took up his permanent abode. In 1764, he was chosen a 
member of the Provincial Assembly, where he soon became conspicuous. 
In this body he continued to represent the county of Northampton until 
1770; but he afterwards returned to Durham, to repair the losses of for- 
tune, to which the change of his place of business had led. 

In October, 1775, he was again chosen to the Provincial Assembly ; 
and the following month, was appointed, in connexion with others, to re- 
port a set of instructions to the Delegates which the Assembly had just 
appointed to the Continental Congress. Pennsylvania was for some 
time opposed to an immediate rupture with the mother country ; and it 
was only by the casting vote of Mr. Morton, that her consent to the 
measure of Independence was secured. On the 20th of July, 1776, the 
Pennsylvania Convention proceeded to a new choice of representatives. 
Mr. Morton, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Morris, and Mr. Wilson, who had voted 
in favor of the Declaration of Independence, were re-elected. Those 
who had opposed it were at this time dropped, and the following gentle- 
men were appointed in their place, viz. Mr. Taylor, Mr. Ross, Mr. 
Clymer, Dr. Rush, and Mr. Smith. 

Mr. Taylor retired from Congress in 1777 ; and died on the 23d of 
February, 1781, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. 



MATTHEW THORNTON. 

Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland, about the year 1714. 
When he was two or three years old, his father emigrated to America, 
and after a residence of a few years at Wiscasset, in Maine, he removed 
to Worcester, in Massachusetts. Here young Thornton received a re- 
spectable education, and subsequently commenced the study of medicine. 
Soon after completing his preparatory course, he removed to Londonder- 
ry, in New-Hampshire, where he entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession, and soon became distinguished, both as a physician and a 
surgeon. 

In 1745, Dr. Thornton was appointed to accompany the New-Hamp- 
shire troops, as a surgeon, in the well known expedition, planned by 
Governor Shirley, against Cape Breton. His professional abilities were 
here creditably tested ; for of the corps of five hundred men, of whom he 
had charge as a physician, only six died of sickness, previous to the 
surrender of Louisburg, notwithstanding the hardships to which they 
were exposed. 

Under the Royal Government, Dr. Thornton was invested with the 



66 GEORGE WALTON. 

office of Justice of the Peace, and commissioned as Colonel of the militia. 
But Avhen that Government was dissolved, Colonel Thornton abjured the 
British interest, and adhered to the patriotic cause. He was President 
of a Provincial Convention, assembled at Exeter, in 1775. 

The next year he was chosen a Delegate to the Continental Congress, 
and signed his name to the engrossed copy of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. During the same year, he was appointed Chief Justice of 
the Court of Common Pleas ; and shortly after was raised to the office 
of Judge of the Superior Court of New-Hampshire, in which office he 
continued until 1782. Two years previous to this latter date, he had 
purchased a farm, pleasantly situated on the banks of the Merrimack, 
near Exeter, where he principally devoted himself to agriculture. He 
was a member of the General Court for one or two years, and a Senator 
in the State Legislature, as also a member of the Council in 1785, under 
President Langdon. Dr. Thornton died while on a visit at Newburyport, 
on the 24th of June, 1803, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. 

He was a man of strong powers of mind, and was remarkably enter- 
taininff and instructive in conversation. 



GEORGE WALTON 



Geokge Waltcn was born in the county of Frederick, Virginia, about 
the year 1740. He was early apprenticed to a carpenter, who, being a 
man of contracted \dews, not only kept him hard at work during the day, 
but refused him the privilege of a candle, by which to read at night. 
Young Walton, however, was resolutely bent on the acquisition of 
knowledge, and contrived to collect, at his leisure moments, pieces of 
lightwood, which served at night, in place of a candle. His application 
v\'as intense ; and his attainments were rapid and valuable. 

At the expiration of his apprenticeship, he removed to the province of 
Georgia, and entering upon the study of the law, commenced, in 1774, 
the practice of that profession. At this time the British Government 
was in the exercise of full power in Georgia. Mr. Walton was one of 
the most zealous of the few advocates of the patriotic cause. He was a 
member of the commiltee which prepared a petition to the King ; and in 
1776, he was elected a Delegate lo the Continental Congress. In this 
station he continued to represent the State of Georgia, until October, 
1781. He was extremely useful on many important committees, and 
always evinced much zeal and intelligence in the discharge of his 
duties. 

In December, 1778, Mr. Walton received a Colonel's commission in 
the militia, and was present at the surrender of Savannah to the British 
arms. During the obstinate defence of that place, he was wounded in 
the thigh, in consequence of which, he fell from his horse, and was 
made a prisoner by the British troops. A Brigadier General was de- 
manded in exchange for him, but iu September, 1779, he was exchanged 



WILLIAM WHIPPLE. * 67 

for a Captain of the navy. In the following month, he was chosen 
Governor of the State ; and in the succeeding January, was elected a 
member of Congress for two years. 

The remainder of Mr. Walton's life, was filled up in the discharge of 
the most respectable offices within the gift of the State. He was at six 
different times chosen a Representative to Congress; twice appointed 
Governor of the State ; once a Senator of the United States ; and at four 
different periods, a Judge of the Superior Courts. He was a man of no 
ordinary talents ; and was conspicious for his uniform devotion to liberty. 
He died on the 2d of February, 1804. 



WILLIAM WHIPPLE. 



William Whipple Avas born at Kittery, Maine, in the year 1730. 
His education was limited, a..d on leaving school, he entered on board a 
merchant vessel, and devoted himself for several years to commercial 
pursuits. His voyages were chiefly to the West Indies, and proving 
successful, he acquired a considerable fortune. 

In 1759, he relinquished his seafaring occupation, and commenced 
business at Portsmouth. He entered with spirit into the controversy 
between Great Britain and the Colonies ; and in 1775, represented the 
town of Portsmouth in the Provincial Congress, which met at Exeter. 
In 1776, he was appointed a Delegate to the General Congress, of 
which body he continued a member, until September, 1799. 

In the year 1777, while Mr. Whipple was a member of Congress, the 
appointment of Brigadier General vi^as bestowed upon him, and the cele- 
ebrated John Stark, by the Assembly of New-Hampshire. He was 
present at the desperate battle of Saratoga ; and his meritorious conduct on 
the occasion was rewarded, by his being jointly appointed with Colonel 
Wilkinson, as the representative of General Gates, to meet two officers 
from General Burgoyne, and settle the articles of capitulation. He was 
also selected as one of the officers, who were appointed to conduct the 
surrendered army to their destined encampment, on Winter Hill, in the 
vicinity of Boston. In 1778, General Whipple, with a detachment of 
New-Hampshire militia, was engaged, under General Sullivan, in exe- 
cuting a plan for the re-taking of Rhode Island from the British. 

During the remaining years of his life, Mr. Whipple filled many im- 
portant offices. As a representative ♦o the State Legislature, he was 
highly popular ; and in 1782, he received the appointment of Receiver 
of Public Moneys for New-Hampshire, from Mr. Morris, the superinten- 
dent of finance. He relinquished the office in 1784, and continued in 
the station of Judge of the Superior Court of Judicature. The duties of 
the latter office he discharged until the 28th of November, 1785, 
when he expired, in the 55th year of his age. 



68 



WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 

William Williams was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on the Sth of 
April, 1731. At the age of sixteen he entered Harvard College, and 
after the usual period was honorably graduated. For some time after his 
return home, he devoted himself to theological studies, under the direc- 
tion of his father. In 1755, he belonged to the staff of Colonel Ephraim 
Williams, the founder of Williams College in Massachusetts, and was 
present at the celebrated battle fought at the head of Lake George, be- 
tween the provincial troops, and the French Canadians. During the 
contest. Colonel Williams was shot through the head by an Indian, and 
killed. 

Soon after this occurrence, William Williams returned to Lebanon ; 
and in 1756 was chosen Clerk of the town, an office which he continued 
to hold for the space of forty-five years. About the same time, he was 
appointed a Representative to the General Assembly of Connecticut. In 
this latter capacity he served for many years, during which he was often 
appointed Clerk of the House, and not unfrequently filled the Speaker's 
chair. In 1780, he was transferred to the Upper House, being elected 
an Assistant ; an office which he held for twenty-four years. 

Mr. Williams was a member of the Continental Congress, during the 
years 1776 and 1777 ; and took an honorable part in the deliberations 
of that body. During his campaign at the north, he had been disgusted 
with the British commanders, on account of the haughtiness of their 
conduct, and the little attachment which they manifested for his native 
country. The impression was powerful and enduring ; and led hiui to 
form a sincere and devoted wish for the independence of America. 

The following anecdote has been related as a proof of the patriotic 
spirit of Mr. Williams. Towards the close of the year 1776, the military 
affairs of the colonies wore a gloomy aspect. In this doubtful state of 
things, the council of safety for Connecticut was called to sit at Lebanon. 
Two of the members of this council, William Hillhouse and Benjamin 
Huntington, quartered with Mr. Williams. One evening, the conversa- 
tion turned upon the gloomy state of the country, and the probability 
that, after all, success would crown the British arms. " Well," said 
Mr. Williams, with great calmness, " if they succeed, it is pretty evident 
what will be my fate. I have done much to prosecute the contest, and^ 
one thing I have done which the British will never pardon — I have 
signed the Declaration of Independence. I shall be hung." Mr. Hill- 
house expressed a confident hope, that America would yet be successful. 
Mr. Huntington observed, that, in case of ill success, he should be ex- 
empt from the gallows, as his signature was not attached to the Declara- 
tion, nor had he written any thing against the British government. To 
this Mr. Williams replied, his eye kindling as he spoke, " Then, Sir, 
you deserve to be hanged, for not having done your duty." 

Mr. Williams (Jied on the 2d day of August, 1811, in the eighty-first 
year of his age. 



69 



JAMES WILSON. 

James Wilson was born in Scotland, about the year 1742. He re 
ceivecl an excellent educauon ; studying successively at Glasgow, St. 
Andrews, and Edinburgh, and enjoying the instruction of the distin- 
guished Dr. Blair, and the not less celebrated Dr. Watts. 

After completing his studies, he embarked for America, and arrived at 
Philadelphia, early in the year 1766. Here he served some time in the 
capacity of tutor in the College of the city, and acquired the reputation 
of being a fine classical scholar. He shortly after entered the law of- 
fice of Mr. John Dickinson, and, at the expiration of two years, commenc- 
ed practice, first at Reading and Carlisle, then at Annapolis, and finally 
at Philadelphia, where he continued to reside during the remainder of 
his life. At an early period, Mr, Wilson espoused the cause of the 
colonies. He was an American in principle from the time that he land- 
ed on the American shore. He became a member of the Provincial 
Convention of Pennsylvania, and in 1775, was unanimously elected a 
Delegare to Congress. His standing during the whole course of his at- 
tendance on this body, was deservedly high. He evinced great 
ability and fidelity in the discharge of his numerous duties, and voted in 
favor of Independence in opposition vo a majority of his colleagues. 

The high estimation in which Mr. Wilson was held, may be learned 
from his receiving the appointment of Advocate General for the French 
Government, in the United States. He continued to hold this office, 
which was both arduous and delicate, for several years, at the' close of 
which, the King of France handsomely rewarded him by a gift of ten 
thousand livres. About the year 1782, Mr. Wilson was appointed a 
Counsellor and Agent for Pennsylvania, in the great controversy between 
that State and the State of Connecticut, relating to certain lands within 
the charter boundary of Pennsylvania. He discovered much legal 
knowledge and tact in the management of this business ; and the ques- 
tion was finally settled in favor of Pennsylvania, 

He was a member of the celebrated Convention of 1787, which assem- 
bled in Philadelphia, for the purpose of forming the Constitution of the 
United Stales. During the long deliberations on this instrument, he 
rendered the most important services. He was on the committee which 
reported the draught of the Constitution, and did much to settle, upon just 
principles, the great and important points which naturally arose in the 
formation of a new Government, 

When the State Convention of Pennsylvania assembled to ratify the 
Federal Constitution, Mr, Wilson was returned a member of that body , 
and as he was the only one who had assisted in forming that instrument, 
it devolved upon him to explain to the Convention the principles upon 
which it was founded, and the great objects which it had in view. 

In 1789, Mr. Wilson was appointed by Washington, a Judge of the 
Supreme Court, under the Federal Constitution. In this office, he con- 
tinued until his death, which occurred on the 28th of August, 1798, at 



70 JOHN WITHEKSPOON. 

Edenton, in North Carolina, while on n circuit attending to his judicial 
duties. Mr. Wilson was twice married ; the first time to a daughter of 
"William Bird, of Berks county, and the second time to a daughter of ]V[r. 
Ellis Gray, of Boston. 



JOHN WITHERSPOON. 

John "Withekspoon. alike distinguished as a minister of the Gospel 
and a patriot of the Revolution, was born in the parish of Yester. a few 
miles from Edinburgh, on the 5th of February, 1720. He was lineally 
descended from John Knox, the celebrated Scottish reformer ; and was 
sent at an early age to tlie public school at Haddington, where he applied 
himself closely to the study of classical literature. 

At the age of fourteen, he was removed to the University of Edin- 
burgh ; and on completing his theological studies, he was ordained and 
settled in the parish of Beith, in the west of Scotland. 

Doctor Witherspoon left behind him a sphere of great usefulness and 
respectability, in retiring from his native land. He arrived in America 
in August, i76S, and in the same month was inaugurated President of 
the College of New Jersey. His exertions in raising the character and 
increasing the funds of this institution, were successful and indefatigable. 

On the occurrence of the American war, the college was broken up, 
and the officers and students were dispersed. Doctor Witherspoon now 
assumed -a new attitude before the American public. On becoming a 
citizen of the country-, he warmly espoused her cause against the British 
ministry. He was a Delegate to the Convention which formed the 
republican Constitution of New Jersey ; and proved himself as able a 
politician as he was known to be philosopher and divine. Early in the 
year 1776. he was chosen a Representative to the General Congress, by 
the people of New Jersey. He took a part in the deliberations on the 
question of Independence, for which he was a \\-arm advocate. To a 
gentleman, who declared tliat the countrj' A\*as not yet ripe for a Decla- 
ration of Independence, he replied : " Sir, in my judgment, the country- 
is not only ripe, but rotting.'''' 

For the space of seven years. Doctor Witherspoon continued a Delegate 
from New Jersey to the Continental Congress. Few men acted with 
more energy- or promptitude, or attended more closely and faithfully tlian 
he to the duties of his station. 

At the close of the year 1779. Doctor "VNTitherspoon voluntarily retired 
from Congress, and resigned the care and instruction of the students to 
another. His name, however, continued to add celebrity to the institu- 
tion, over which he had so creditably presided. But he did not remain long 
in repose. In 17S1. he was again chosen to Congress, and in 17S3, he 
embarked for England, with the view of promoting the interests oi the 
Colle£:e. for which he had already done so much. He returned to Ame- 
rica in 17S4, and again withdrew from active life. 

Doctor Witlierspoon was an admirable model for a young preacher 



OLIVER WOLCOTT. 7^ 

"A profound theologian, perspicuous and simple in his manner; an 
universal scholar, acquainted with human nature ; a grave, dignified, 
solemn speaker ; — he brought all the advantages derived from these 
sources, to the illustration and enforcement of divine truth. His social 
qualities rendered him one of the most companionable of men." 

Doctor Witherspoon was twice married ; the first time in Scotland, at 
an early age, to a lady of the name of Montgomery ; and the second 
time, at the age of seventy years, to a lady who was only twenty-three. 
He had several children, who all passed, or are passing, honorably 
through life. He died on the 15th day of November, 1794, in the 
seventy-third year of his age. His works have been collected in four 
volumes, octavo. 



OLIVER WOLCOTT. 



Oliver Wolcott was born in Connecticut in the year 1726. His 
family was ancient and distinguished ; and his ancestors successively 
held a long list of honorable offices in the State. He was graduated at 
Yale College in 1747 ; and the same year received a commission as 
Captain in the army, in the French war. At the head of a company, 
which was raised by his own exertions, he proceeded to the defence of the 
northern frontiers, where he continued until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

At this time he returned to his native State, and entered upon the study 
of medicine. He never engaged in the practice of the profession, how- 
ever, in consequence of receiving the appointment of SheriflT of the 
county of Litchfield. In 1774, he was elected an Assistant in the Council 
of the State, and continued in the office till 1786. He was also for some 
time Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county, and 
Judge of the Court of Probate for the district of Litchfield. In 1776, 
he was chosen a Delegate from Connecticut to the National Congress, 
which assembled at Philadelphia. He participated in the deliberations 
of that body, and had the honor of recording his name in favor of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

From the time of the adoption of that measure until 1786, he was 
either in attendance upon Congress, in the field in defence of his country, 
or, as a Commissioner of Indian affairs for the northern department, 
assisting in settling the terms of peace with the Six Nations. In 1786, 
he was chosen Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, an office which he 
continued to hold for ten years, at the expiration of which he was raised 
to the Chief Magistracy of the State. He died on the 1st of December, 
1797, in the seventy-second year of his age. 

Mr. Wolcott was possessed of great resolution of character ; and his 
attainments in literature were of a superior order. He was also distin- 
guished for his love of order and religion. In 1755, he was married to a 
Miss Collins, of Guilford, an estimable woman, with whom he enjoyed 
much domestic felicity, for the space of forty years. 

61 



72 



GEORGE WYTHE. 

George Wythe w*as bom in the counts,' of Elizabeth cit)-, Virginia, in 
the year 17-6. His mother, who was a woman of superior acquirements, 
instructed him in the learned languages, and- he made considerable pro- 
gress in several of the solid sciences, and in polite literature. Before 
he became of age, he was deprived of both his parents ; and inheriting 
considerable property, he became addicted, for several years, to dissipated 
courses and habits of profligacy. But at the age of thirty, he abandoned 
entirely his youthful follies, and applied himself with indefatigable indus- 
try to study ; never relapsing into any indulgence inconsistent A\*ith a 
manly and virtuous character. 

Having studied the profession of law. he soon attained a high reputa- 
tion at the bar, and was appointed from his native county to a seat in the 
House of Burgesses. He took a conspicuous part in the proceedings of 
this assembly, and some of the most eloquent state papers of the time 
were drawn up by him. The remonstrance to the House of Commons, 
which was of a remarkably fearless and independent tone, was the pro- 
duction of his pei;. By his patriotic firmness and zeal, he powerfuJy 
contributed to the ultimate success of his country-. 

In 1775. Mr. "Wythe was elected a Delegate from Virginia to the Conti- 
nental Congress in Philadelphia. He assisted in bringing forward and 
urging the Declaration of Independence, and affixed his name to that death- 
less instrument. During this latter year, he was appointed, in connexion 
with Thomas Jefl'erson, Edward Pendleton, and others, to revise the laws 
of the State of Virginia. In the year 1777, Mr. Wphe was chosen 
Speaker of the House of Delegates, and during the same year was made 
Judge of the High Court of Chancery. On the new organization of the 
Court of Equity, in a subsequent year, he was appointed sole Chancellor, 
a station which he filled with great ability, for more than twenty vears. 

In the course of the Revolution, Mr. Wythe sufiered much in respect 
to his property. By judicious management, however, he contrived to 
retrieve his fortune, and preserve his credit unimpaired. Of the Con- 
yention of 17S7. appointed to revise the Federal Constitution, he was an 
efficient member. During the debates, he acted for the most part as 
chairman. He was a warm advocate for the Constitution, and esteemed 
it the surest guarantee of the peace and prosperity' of the countrj-. He 
died on the Sih of June. 1S06. in the eighty-first year of his age, after a 
short but ven,- excruciating sickness. By his last will and testament, 
Mr. Wythe bequeathed his valuable libraiy and philosophical apparatus to 
his friend, Mr. Jefierson.and distributed the remainder of his little propert}- 
among the grand-children of his sister, and the slaves whom he had set 
frse. 



73 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



It is a singular fact, that the principal European nations owe their 
possessions in America to the enterprise and skill of Italian navigators, 
though not a single colony was planted by the Italians themselves. Co- 
lumbus opened to Europe a new world, and acquired for Spain a dominion 
wide and rich enough to satisfy even Castilian' ambition, and his recom- 
pense was ingratitude, imprisonment, and an old age dishonored by chains. 
Cabot, a Venetian in the English service, acquired claims upon the lasting 
remembrance of Great Britain, whose extent he never lived to realize. 
Verazzani, of Florence, explored America for the benefit of France, but 
when sailing in a second expedition to this country, perished at sea. 
Amerigo Vespucci, who was also a Florentine, though he associated his 
name in imperishable union with the new world, bought but an empty 
fame for himself and his country. 

Columbus sailed on his first voyage of discovery, from the bar of 
Saltes, a small island in front of the town of Huelva, early on the morning 
of the 3d of August, 1492. He directed his course in a south-westerly 
direction, for the Canary Islands, and immediately commenced a minute 
journal of the voyage, in the preface to which he recounted the motives 
which led him to the expedition. In the conclusion of this preface, he 
says, " I intend to write, during this voyage, very punctually, from day 
to day, all that I may do, and see, and experience, as will hereafter be 
seen. Also, my sovereign princes, beside describing each night all that 
has occurred in the day, and in the day the navigation of the night, I 
propose to make a chart, in which I will set down the waters and lands 
of the Ocean sea, in their proper situations under their bearings ; and, 
further, to compose a book, and illustrate the whole in picture by latitude 
from the equinoctial, and longitude from the west ; and upon the whole, 
it will be essential that I should forget sleep, and attend closely to the 
navigation, to accomplish these things, which will be a great labor." 

The first land that Columbus expected to meet was Cipango, which 
had been placed by geographers at the eastern extremity of India. This 
was the name given to the island now called Japan, by Marco Polo, the 
celebrated Venetian traveller. The most extravagant accounts of the 
riches of this country were given by the writers of that age, and the 
Admiral was anxious to proceed directly there. At sunrise, on Sunday, 
the 7th of October, the Nina, which had outsailed the other vessels, on 
account of her swiftness, hoisted a flag at her mast-head, and fired a gun, 
as a signal of having discovered land. There had been a reward pro- 
mised by the King and Queen to the man who should first make this 
discovery ; and each of the vessels was striving very eagerly to get 
ahead, and obtain the promised recompense. As they found nothitjg of 



74 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

the land the Nina made signals for, the Admiral shifted hi 5 course, ahoiit 
evening, towards the west-south-west, with a determination to sail two days 
in that direction. The reason for making this change was from watching 
the flight of the birds. The Portuguese had discovered most of their 
islands in this manner, and Columbus noticed that the flocks which 
passed them all flew from the north to the south-west. He inferred from 
this that land was situated in that quarter. After sailing a day or two, 
they found the air as soft as that of Seville in April, and wonderfully 
fragrant; the weeds appeared very fresh, and many land birds were 
taken. The men, however, had lost faith in all signs of land, and did 
not ceasp to murmur and complain. The Admiral encouraged them 
in the best manner he could, representing the riches they were about to 
acquire, and adding that it was to no purpose to complain ; for, having 
come so far, they had nothing to do but to continue, till, by the assistance 
of Heaven, they should arrive at the Indies. 

On the 11th of October, they met with signs of land that could not be 
mistaken ; and all began to regain spirits and confidence. The crew of 
the Pinta saw a cane and a log, and picked up a stick, which appeared 
to have been carved with an iron instrument, a small board, and abun- 
dance of weeds that had been newly washed from the banks. The crew 
of the Nina saw other similar signs, and found, beside, a branch of a thorn 
full of red berries. Convinced, by these tokens, of the neighborhood of 
land, Columbus, after evening prayers, made an address to his crew, 
reminding them of the mercy of God in bringing them so long a voyage 
with such fair weather, and encouraging them by signs that were every day 
plainer and plainer. He repeated the instructions that he had previously 
given, that when they had sailed seven hundred leagues to the westward 
without discovering land, they should lie by from midnight till daybreak. 
He told them that, as they had strong hopes of finding land that night, 
every one should watch in his place ; and, besides the thirty crowns 
a year, which the Spanish sovereigns had promised to the first discoverer, 
he would give him a velvet doublet. 

About ten o'clock that evening, while Columbus was keeping an 
anxious look-out from the top of the cabin, he thought he beheld a light 
glimmering at a great distance. Fearing that his hopes might deceive 
him, he called two of his companions to confirm him. One of them 
came in season to observe it, but the other was too late. It had disap- 
peared. From this they supposed it might be the torch of some fisher- 
man, raised up and then suddenly dropped again. They Avere all 
confident of being near land. About two o'clock in the morning, the 
Pinta gave the signal of land. It was first perceived by a sailor named 
Rodrigo de Triana ; the thirty pounds a year were not granted to him, 
but to the Admiral, who had first seen the light in the midst of darkness. 
His son says, " that this signified the spiritual light he was spreading in 
those dark regions." When the day appeared, they perceived before 
them a large island, quite level, full of green trees and delicious waters, 
and, to all appearance, thickly inhabited. Numbers of the people imme- 
diately collected together, and ran down to the shore. They were very- 
much astonished at the sight of the ships, which they believed to be 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERI-iJA. 



75 



living creatures. The ships immediately came to anchor. The Ad- 
miral went ashore in his boat, well armed, and bearing the royal standard. 
The other captains each took a banner of the green cross ; containing 
the initials of the names of the King and Queen on each side, and a 
crown over each letter. The Admiral called upon the two captains, and 
►he rest of the crew who landed, to bear witness that he took possession 
of that island for his sovereigns. They all gave thanks to God, kneeling 
upon the shore, shedding tears of joy for the great mercy received. The 
Admiral rose, and called the island San Salvador. The Indians called 
it Guanahani, and it is now called Cat Island, and belongs to the group 
of the Bahamas. Many of the natives came down to witness this cere- 
mony. They were very peaceable and quiet people, and the Admiral 
gave them some red caps, glass beads, and a few other trifles of small 
value, with which they were much delighted. They imagined that the 
strangers had descended from heaven, and valued the sHghtest token 
they could receive from them, as of immense worth. 

When the Admiral and his companions returned to their vessels, the 
natives followed them in large numbers. Some sv/am ; others went in 




their canoes, carrying parrots, spun cotton, javelins, and other articles, to 
exchange for hawks' bells, and strings of beads. They went entirely 
naked, seeming to be very poor and simple. They were generally young, 
of good stature, with thick and short black hair. Their features were 
good, and their countenances pleasant, though an extreme highness of 
the forehead gave them rather a wild appearance. Some were painted 
black, others with white and red ; some on the face only, others over the 
whole body. They had no knowledge of weapons, and grasped the 
swords which were shown to them by the blades. Their javelins were 
made of sticks, with points hardened at the fire, and armed with fish 
bones instead of iron. They easily learned the words that were spoken 
to them. No beasts were seen upon the island, and no birds but parrots, 
m which the sailors and the Indians continued trafficing till night. 
Columbus pursued his voyage among the many green, fertile, and 



76 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

populous islands which cluster in the seas he had reached. He had 
hoped to find great wealth of gold, and the information he received by 
signs from the Indians seemed always to confirm this opinion, and to 
send him on some expedition where he was confident of finding rocks 
sparkling Avith riches, and rivers flowing over golden sands. But he was 
continually deceived, or continually deceived himself. At an island they 
called Isabella, he remained several days in the vain expectation of pro- 
curing some gold. The Indians had told his people stories of a rich 
king dressed in splendid garments, and covered with golden ornaments 
and they were in hopes that he would be civil enough to visit them, and 
bring a great many valuable things with him. But no person of that 
description appeared, and they began to grow tired of waiting ; and 
taking in a fresh supply of water, they set sail for some other island, in 
search of the rich king and the gold mines. 

They directed their course towards Cuba, w^here they felt sure of find- 
ing the land of spices, silks, and precious metals, of which they were in 
quest. With this island they were exceedingly delighted, though they 
still found it by no means the promised land. On the northern coast 
they sailed into a beautiful river, twelve fathoms deep at its mouth. The 
banks of this river, upon both sides, were covered with trees of a most 
rich and luxuriant foliage, and with beautiful shrubs and flowers of every 
description. They ascended the river some distance, and the Admiral 
says it was exceedingly pleasant to behold the delightful verdure which 
presented itself, and to listen to the songs, and admire the variegated 
plumage, of the birds. The island was full of pleasant mountains, and 
the grass grew, long and green, down to the very edge of the water. 

On the 24th of December, the weather being very calm, and the vessel 
lying about a league ofT the Holy Cape, Columbus, at about eleven o'clock 
at night, retired to rest. It was so very calm, that the man whom the 
Admiral had left in charge of the helm, contrary to express orders, com- 
mitted it to a boy, and went to sleep. Columbus says that the sea was 
as still as water in a dish, so that there was not a seaman awake on board 
of the ship, when the current carried them directly upon breakers that 
were roaring with a noise that might have been heard a league off. As 
the rudder struck, the fellow at the helm cried out, and Columbus imme- 
diately awoke and ran upon deck. The master, whose watch it was, 
then came out, and the Adiuiral ordered him and the other sailors to take 
the boat, and carry out an anchor astern. Instead of obeying his com- 
mand, they immediately rowed off to the other caravel, at that time half a 
league distant. On perceiving this desertion, Columbus ordered the 
masts to be cut away, and the vessel lightened as much as possible. But 
edl was in vain ; she continued fast a-ground, and was rapidly filling with 
water. The men on board the other caravel would not receive the 
deserters in the boat, but obliged them to put back to their onii ship. 
As it was impossible, by this time, to preserve the vessel, Columbus was 
only anxious to save the men. They went to the other caravel, and on 
the succeeding day, with the assistance of the natives, and their canoes, 
they preserved every thing of value. The Indians were very honest and 
kind, every thing being guarded by them with extreme care, at the 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA, 



77 



express order of the King ; they lamented as much as if the loj^s had 
been their own. 

The chief King of the place gave the adventurers three houses, in 
which to store the articles they had saved from the wreck. Perceiving 
the desire of the Admiral to procure gold, he informed him there was a 
place in the neighborhood, where it might be found in large quantities. 
Columbus entertained the King on board of the caravel, and received an 
invitation to a feast upon shore. The Indian monarch treated the Admi- 
ral with every honor, feasting him with several sorts of shrimps, game, 
and other viands, and with the bread which they called cassavi. He 
afterwards conducted him into an arbor near his house, where they were 
attended by more than a thousand persons. The King wore a shirt and 
a pair of gloves, which Columbus had presented to him, and with which 
he was very much pleased. He was very neat in his manner of taking 
food, rubbing his hands with herbs, and washing them after the repast. 
They then went down to the shore, when Columbus sent for a Turkish bow 
and some arrows. These were given to one of his crew, who happened 




to be very expert in their use. The people were astonished with this 
exhibition, as they knew nothing of these weapons ; but they spoke of 
some people called Caribs, who were accustomed to come and attack 
them with bows and arrows. Upon which Columbus told the King, that 
the sovereigns of Castile would send people to fight against the Caribs, 
and take them prisoners. By order of Columbus, several guns were then 
fired. The King was astonished, and his followers were very much 
frightened, falling upon the ground in terror and wonder. Afterwards, a 
mask was brought, with pieces of gold at the eyes and ears, and in other 
places. This was given to the Admiral, together with other jewels of 
gold, which were placed upon his head and neck. Many other presents 
were also made to the Spaniards. All these things contributed to lessen 
the grief of the Admiral at having lost his vessel ; and he began to be 
convinced that the accident had providentially happened, in order that this 
place might be selected for a settlement. 



78 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA 

Many of his crew were very desirous to remain, and the Admiral 
accordingly chose a situation for a fort. He thought this necessary, 
because the territory was at such a distance from Spain, that the natives 
ought to be held " in obedience, by fear as well as by love." The 
Spaniards were so active in building the fort, and the Indians so diligent 
in assisting them, that it was erected in ten days. A large vault was 
dug, over which a strong Avooden toAver was built, and the whole sur- 
rounded by a Avide ditch. In the account of the voyage, drawn up for 
his sovereigns, Columbus says that he hopes, on his return from Castile, 
to find a ton of gold collected by the men left here, by trading with the 
natives ; and that he believes they will have discovered mines and spices 
in such abundance, that before three years, the King and Queen may 
undertake the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. "For I have before 
protested to your majesties," says he, " that the profits of this enterprise 
shall be employed in the conquest of Jerusalem, at which your majesties 
smiled, and said you were pleased, and had the same inclinations." 

Columbus left thirty-nine men in the island, with seed for sowing, and 
provision to last a twelvemonth ; he left there also the long boat of the 
ship, and goods to traffic with. To the fortress, the adjacent village, and 
the harbor, he gave the name of LaNavidad, or the Nativity, in memory 
of their having escaped the perils of shipwreck on Christmas day. After 
cruising about among the islands till the 16th of January, they set sail 
directly for Spain. After one or two violent storms, a visit to St. Mary, 
one of the Azores, a penitential pilgrimage to a hermitage on that island, 
and an interview with the King of Portugal at Valparaiso, Columbus 
entered and anchored in the harbor of Palos, on the 15th of March. 

After receiving the congratulations of his friends at Palos, Columbus 
immediately set out to meet his sovereigns, whom he found at Barcelona. 
To this place, he made a sort of triumphal entry, surrounded by the 
haughty nobility of Spain, vying with each other in the honors they 
could pay to the Discoverer. He was received publicly by the sove- 
reigns, in a splendid saloon, seated on the throne, and encircled by a 
magnificent court. On his entrance they rose to greet him, and would 
hardly allow him to kiss their hands, considering it too unworthy a mark 
of vassalage. Columbus then gave an account of his discoveries, and 
exhibited the different articles which he had brought home with him. 
He described the quantity of spices, the promise of gold, the fertility of 
the soil, the delicious climate, the never-fading verdure of the trees, the 
brilliant plumage of the birds, in the new regions which his own enter- 
prise had acquired for his sovereigns. He then drew their attention to 
the six natives of the New World, whom he had brought with him, and 
described their manners and dispositions. He exhibited their dresses 
and ornaments, their rude utensils, their feeble arms, Avhich corresponded 
with his description of them, as naked and ignorant barbarians. To this 
he added, that he had observed no traces of idolatry or superstition among 
them, and that they all seemed to be convinced of the existence of a 
Supreme Being, and concluded Avith saying, " that God had reserved for 
the Spanish monarchs, not only all the treasures of the NeAv World, but 
a still greater treasure, of inestimable value, in the infinite number of 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 79 

souls destined to be brought over into the bosom of the Christian 
church." 

After certain preliminary negociations with his Holiness the Pope, and 
with the monarch of Portugal, both of whom felt much inclined to pos- 
sess a portion of the new territories, but did not know exactly how to obtain 
it, Columbus sailed on his second expedition to the New World, on the 
25th of September, 1493. On the 3d of November he made an island, 
which he called Dominica, as.it Avas first discovered on a Sunday. 
Other islands Avere soon seen, and boats were sent ashore at some of 
them. They were of different shapes and aspects, some green and 
woody, some covered with rocks of a bright azure and glittering white. 
To one of these groups he gave the name of the Eleven Thousand Vir- 
gins. On reaching La Navidad, at midnight, Columbus gave orders 
that guns should be fired to apprise the colonists of their arrival, but no 
answering signal was given. A canoe soon afterwards came off to the 
fleet, and inquired for the Admiral. The Indians refused to come on 
board till they had seen and recognized him. When questioned about 
the Spaniards who had remained there, they said that some of them had 
been taken sick and died, and that some had quarrelled, and gone away 
to a distant part of the island. The Admiral concealed his surmises in 
respect to their fate, and dismissed the natives with some trifling presents 
to their king, Guacanagari. On the next day he found but little reason 
to doubt as to the fate of the colonists. When the Admiral landed, he 
found all the houses in the neighborhood burnt, and the fort entirely de- 
stroyeo. The only remaining tokens of the history of the colonists were 
eleven dead bodies, with some torn garments, and broken articles of 
furniture. They discharged all the cannon and musketry of the fleet 
at once, in hopes that the sound might reach the ear of some concealed 
wanderer, who still survived to tell the fate of his companions. But it 
was in vain. 

Columbus was soon visited by Guacanagari, the King, who pretended 
to have been wounded in a descent of the Caribs, but who was suspected 
by the Spaniards of having been concerned in the slaughter of their 
countrymen. He was, however, dismissed in safety, and it was not till 
subsequent circumstances in some measure confirmed their suspicions, 
that the Admiral sent out a party to reconnoitre the island and take him 
prisoner. They scoured the shores, and the lighter caravels entered far 
into the windings of the rivers. Maldanado was at the head of this 
expedition, and, with his party, was going towards a high house they saw 
at a distance, where they supposed the cacique might have taken refuge. 
" And as he was going," says Peter Martyr, " there met him a man with 
a frowning countenance and a grim look, with a hundred men following 
him, armed with bows and arrows, and long and sharp stakes like javelins, 
made hard at the ends with fire ; who, approaching towards our men, spake 
out aloud with a terrible voice, saying that they were Taini, that is, noble 
tnen, and not cannibals ; but when our men had given them signs of peace, 
they left both their weapons and fierceness. Thus, giving each of them 
certain hawks' bells, they took it for so great a reward, that they desired 
to enter bonds of near friendship with us, and feared not immediately to 



80 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

submit themselves under our power, and resorted to our ships with their 
presents." 

It was learned that Guacanagari had retired to the mountains ; and on 
this intelligence, the fleet sailed from Navidad to Monte Christi. The 
Admiral intended to steer towar Is the east, and establish a colony at the 
harbor of La Plata. But being detained by contrary -winds, the fleet 
finally came to anchor in a haven about ten leagues west of Monte 
Christi, where there seemed to be a ven*' fine situation for a colony. The 
soil was fertile, and the surrounding sea abounded in fish. Behind it 
were impenetrable woods, and the rocks below it might be easily crowned 
with a strong fortress. This was the place, therefore, chosen for the 
new settlement. A chapel was immediately erected, in which a Catholic 
festival was, for the first time, celebrated, on the 6th of January, 1494, 
The public buildings of the new town were erected of stone ; the private 
houses were built of wood, and covered with grass and leaves. Seeds 
were sowm, which sprung up with great rapidity. The neighboring 
Indians assisted them in building their houses, and provided them 
food, unth the greatest diligence and zeal. Columbus called the new 
settlement Isabella, in honor of the distinguished patron of his expe- 
dition. 

On the second of February, a fleet Avas dispatched to Spain, to com- 
municate the progress of discovery, and the existing condition of aflfairs. 
The Admiral Avas now doomed to be the A-ictim of new troubles. He 
was sick, and during his illness, a mutiny broke out among the discon- 
tented, AA'ho laid a plan to return to Spain, and prefer formal charges 
against Columbus. On recovering from his illness, and learning about 
the plot, he confined the ringleader, and inflicted some light punishment 
on the accomplices. HaA-ing thus arranged matters at the neAv settlement, 
he set out for the gold mines in the interior. After establishing a fortress, 
and leaA'ing fifty-six men at St. Thomas, and sailing along the northern 
coast of Hispaniola, in the hope of obtaining an interAdew AA'ith Guacan- 
agari, Columbus continued his course to Cuba, AA-here he entered a spa- 
cious harbor, to AA'hich he gaA^e the name of Puerto Grande. Still sail- 
ing along the coast, the Indian men, AA'omen and children, continually 
croAvded to the shore, bringing AvhateA-er they could find to barter for 
beads and bells. All inquiries after gold they ansAvered by pointing to- 
Avards the south. While sailing in this direction, they reached a beauti- 
ful island, Avhich still retains the Indian name of Jamaica. It AA-as found 
to be A-erA,' populous and pleasant. On attempting to land, they Avere 
met by a large number of canoes, filled AAnth armed Indians, AA'ho re- 
sisted their approach, darting arrows and jaA'elins, and setting up 
menacing shouts. Columbus ordered a few shot to be fired among 
them ; and a large dog Avas let loose, AA'hich occasioned great terror and 
confusion. 

On the following day, however, they again resorted to the shore, and 
engaged in trafficing Avith the Spaniards. IMost of them were painted 
with various colors, Avearing feathers upon their heads, and palm leaves 
upon their breasts. Some of their canoes were ornamented with carved . 



4 



EAELY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 81 

work and paintings. These boats were each made out of a single trunk, 
and many of them were of great size. One was found to be ninety-six 
feet long and eight broad. Columbus now bore off for Cuba, resolving 
to sail severa. hundred leagues along the coast, and discover whether it 
were really the continent. A large group of islands, through which his 
ships now passed, he called the Queen's Garden. When coasting along 
Cuba, he frequently sent the boats ashore, with several men, who might 
inform themselves of the character and products of the country, and in- 
quire of the natives as to its extent. While thus engaged, they saw a 
singular manner of taking fish among the natives of one of the islands 
of Queen's Garden. " Like as we with greyhounds do hunt hares in 
the plain fields," says Peter Martyr, "sodolhey as it were with a hunt- 
ing fish take other fishes." This fish was of a form before unknown to 
the Spaniards, having on the back part of the head a very rough skin. 
The creature is tied by a cord to the side of the boat, and let down into 
the water. When the Indians see any great fish or tortoise, the cord is 
loosened, and the hunting fish fastens upon it, retaining its hold with so 
much force that the prey is drawn with it to the surface of the water, 
and there secured. 

Columbus pursued his voyage till he had sailed along the coast of 
Cuba three hundred and thirty-five leagues. The natives could not tell 
him the extent of the country, though they knew that it exceeded twenty 
day's travelling. Comparing these circumstances with his previous no- 
tions, he arrived at the conclusion that " this country was the beginning 
of India, which he had intended to come to from Spain." He caused 
this decision to be published on board the three ships, and all the seamen 
and most skilful pilots fully concurred with him in the opinion. They 
all declared under oath that they had no doubt upon the subject. The 
Admiral also swore to his belief, and the clerk formally attested it, on 
board of the Nina, on the twelfth of June. At this very time, a ship- 
boy from the mast-top could have seen the open sea beyond the islands 
to the south; and if Columbus had continued his course in that direction 
but a single day more, he would have arrived at the end of his imagined 
continent. But in this error he lived and died : supposing Cuba the ex- 
tremity of the Asiatic continent. 

The Admiral relinquished all further examination of the coast, and 
stood south-east to an island which he named Evangelista. He here 
became inclosed in a large bay, which he had supposed a channel open- 
ing to the south-east. The water in some places in this sea was as 
white as milk ; and according to one writer, there were sometimes such 
a multitude of tortoises that they arrested the progress of the ships. At 
length they were once more coasting along the beautiful and luxuriant 
shores of Cuba. Here Columbus sought for a pleasant and convenient 
harbor, where his weary crew might find refreshment and repose. An 
incident occurred here, while the Admiral was hearing mass upon shore, 
that is of con.dderable interest. An old man, of great dignity and gravi- 
ty, came towards them, and', behaved very reverently all the time that 
the ceremony was going on. When the mass was over, he presented 



82 



EARLY HISTORY OP AMERICA. 



with his own hands to Columbus a basket of fruit ; and when he had 
been some time entertained there, he requested permission to speak a 




few words through the interpreter. The amount of this speech is thus 
given by Peter Martyr : — 

" I have been advertised, most mighty prince, that you have of late 
with great power subdued many lands and regions hitherto unknown to 
you, and have brought no little fear upon all the people and inhabitants 
of the same ; the which your good fortune you shall bear Avith less in- 
solence if you remember that the souls of men have two journeys, after 
they are departed from this body ; the one, foul and dark, prepared for 
such as are injurious and cruel to mankind ; the other, pleasant and de- 
lectable, ordained for them which in their time loved peace and quiet- 
ness. If, therefore, you acknowledge yourself to be mortal, and consider 
that every man shall receive condign reward or punishment for such 
things as he hath done in this life, you Avill wrongfully hurt no man." 

Columbus was much pleased and affected by the eloquent wisdom of 
the old man, as it was conveyed to him by the interpreter. He answer- 
ed that tlie chief cause of his coming was to instruct the islanders in the 
true religion ; and that he had special commands from his sovereigns of 
Spain to subdue and punish the mischievous, and defend the innocent 
against violence from evil doers. The old man was delighted with the 
Admiral, and was desirous to accompany him upon the voyage, notwith- 
standing his extreme age. The entreaties of his wife and children alone 
prevented him. Columbus remained several days in the river, and on 
taking leave of his old adviser, he steered south for the open sea. 
Storms and adverse winds, however, detained him a few days about the 
island of Queen's Garden, and again visiting Jamaica, he was received 
with great kindness and confidence. 

On the 24th of September, they had reached the eastern extremity of 
Hispaniola, and pursued their voyage towards the south-east. It was 
the design of Columbus, at the present time, to complete the discovery of 
the Caribbee Islands. But the fatigues which he had suffered during 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 83 

the voyage had completely exhausted him. Besides his great mental 
exertions, he had shared in the bodily labors of the expedition, with more 
unwearied activity than the best of his seamen. He had shared all their 
privations and toils with them. His body and mind at length sunk un- 
der these continued and unintermitted labors. A deep lethargy fell upon 
him, and his crew were fearful that he would die. He could neither re- 
member, nor see, nor hear ; and was carried back in a state of insensi- 
bility to the harbor of Isabella. What was his surprise and joy, on re- 
covering his faculties, to find here by his bedside, his brother Bartholo- 
mew, whom he had not before met with for thirteen years, and whom he 
had supposed to be dead. He had been appointed by the Spanish Go- 
vernment to the command of three ships, and had received orders to 
assist his brother in all his enterprises. He reached Isabella just after 
the Admiral had departed for the coast of Cuba, with supplies of provi- 
sion that arrived at a fortunate moment, to allay the discontents of the 
Spaniards, avid to alleviate the maladies under which they had been suf- 
fering. Meantime the Indians had become much incensed by the out- 
rages of the soldiers, and several Caciques united for their destruction. 
This was the state of things when the Admiral reached Isabella, and it 
was not till the island was restored to obedience, that Columbus deter- 
mined to return to Spain. His enemies at court were many, active and 
influential, envious and malignant; and by their influence such accusa- 
tions against the Admiral were laid before his sovereigns, that they 
determined to send a person of trust and confidence to Hispaniola, to 
inquire into the alleged abuses. Columbus received this emissary with 
dignity, and acknowledged complete submission to the will of his mo- 
narch. On the 10th of March, 1496, he set sail from Isabella on his 
return to Spain, leaving his two brothers to administer the government 
during his absence. 

When Columbus arrived at Cadiz, he found three caravels in the 
harbor ready to set sail for Hispaniola. By these vessels the Admiral 
dispatched letters to his brother, to inform him of his safe return, and to 
give him further instructions in respect to the government of the colony. 
He then immediately repaired to Burgos, at that time the ordinary resi- 
dence of the court. The sovereigns were absent ; but they both soon 
returned, not only to give him a favorable reception, but to load him 
with thanks and kindness. The accusations of his enemies were passed 
by in silence, either as entirely unfounded, or as of no weight, when 
compared with the great services and unquestionable fidelity of Colum- 
bus. The Admiral was encouraged by this unexpected reception. He 
requested the immediate equipment of six ships, three of which were to 
be freighted with provisions and necessary utensils and implements for 
the colony at Isabella, and the rest to remain under his own direction.' 
This demand appeared very reasonable, but the sovereigns suggested 
that it was immediately iniportant to found a solid establishment, on 
which succeeding colonies might be modelled. The propriety of this 
was obvious. It was arranged that the sovereigns, at their own charge, 
should transport a large number of sailors, soldiers, laborers, mechanics 
and artists to Hispaniola. To these, surgeons, physicians, and priests 
were added. The Aimiral also obtained permission to carry a nmiiher 



84 



EARLY HISTOEY OF AMERICA. 



of musicians, to solace their labors., and amuse their leisure hours ; law- 
yers and advocates were expressly excluded by edict, in order to prevent 
quarrelling in the new dominions. Nothing could have been more pru- 
dently devised than the greater part of these regulations. There was 
one proposal of Columbus, however, extremely pernicious to the interests 
of the rising colony. He suggested the transportation of convicted cri- 
minals, and of those conffned in prison for debts which they could never 
hope to pay, as a commutation for the punishment to which they would 
otherwise be subject. This advice was given in consequence of the 
present difficult)- of procuring men willing to embark in the expedition. 
The evils which had befallen their country-men deterred those who could 
live in peace and prosperity in Spain from going to the Indies ; but the 
proposition of Columbus was most unwise and unjust. 

Much delay occurred in the preparation for the voyage, owing to the 
obstacles thrown in the way by the cold-blooded enemies of Columbus : 
but the expedition was enabled to set sail on the 30th of May. 149S. 
The Admiral pursued a more southerly course than he had before taken, 
and on the 31st of July, made an island which he called La Trinidad. 
He continued coasting to the south-west point of Trinidad, to which he 
gave the name of Point Arenal. Near this place the ships cast anchor. 
A large canoe here put off from the shore, in which there were about 
five-and-twent)- Indians, who cried out to them m a language which no 
one in the ships could understand. Columbus endeavored to prevail 
upon them to come on board, but to no purpose. They remained gazing 
at the ships, with the paddles in their hand, ready for instant escape. 
Their complexion was fairer than that of any Indians they had before 
seen. They were almost naked, and. besides the usual bows and arrows, 
they carried bucklers — a piece of armor which they had never before 
seen among the natives of the New "World. 

Columbus, having- tried evers* other means to attract them, and in 




vain, detennined to iry the power of music. He ordered a sort of Indian 
dance to be executed on the deck of his ship, while the musicians on 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 85 

board sung and played upon their different instruments. The natives 
mistook th's for a signal of battle, and immediately discharged their ar- 
rows, and on a return from a couple of cross-bows, commenced a rapid 
retreat. 

Without knowing it, Columbus was now really in the neighborhood of 
the continent. While anchored at Point Arenal, the extremity of the 
island of Trinidad, he saw high land towards the north-west, about 
fifteen leagues distant, which he called Isla de Gracia. This was the 
province to which he afterwards gave the name of Paria, and which form- 
ed a part of the continent. They found in Trinidad the same kind of 
fruits that abounded in Hispaniola. There were also large quantities of 
oysters there, and a great number of parrots, with every variety of beau- 
tiful and brilliant plumage. In the strait formed between Trinidad and 
the main land, they were nearly swallowed up by the violence of the 
waters. Two very rapid currents, setting in from opposite quarters, lift- 
ed the ships violently to a great height, on a mountain of surges, but the 
waves gradually subsided, and they escaped without injury. To this 
pass Columbus gave the name of Boca de la Sierpe, or the Mouth of the 
Serpent. They soon found themselves, by the assistance of favorable 
breezes, in a tranquil gulf, sailing quietly beyond the reach of danger. 

Columbus was astonished to find the water of this gulf fresh, and to 
observe its great smoothness and stillness. It was at a period of the 
year when the rain fell in large quantities, and the swollen rivers empti- 
ed themselves so copiously, as to overcome the natural saltness of the 
sea. He found many good harbors, as he proceeded towards the north, 
much cultivated land, and many rivers. Going ashore at different times, 
the seamen found grapes, apples, a kind of orange, and a great many 
monkeys. 

On Monday, the 6th of August, a canoe, with five men in it, came off 
to the nearest caravel, and one of the Spaniards requested them to carry 
him ashore. Leaping into the boat, he overset it, and the Indians were 
taken and carried to the Admiral. Their complexion was like that of 
the natives they had seen in the neighborhood. The Admiral treated 
them kindly, and gaA^e them hawks' bells, glass beads, and sugar. They 
were then sent on shore, and gave so favorable an account of their visit, 
that great numbers collected about the ships. These were received in a 
similar manner, and brought bread, and water, and a sort of green wine, 
to exchange for the trifles that the crews were willing to give them. 
They all carried bucklers, bows, and poisoned arrows. On the next day, 
a number of friendly Indians came on board, bringing bread, corn, and 
other provisions, together with pitchers of a white beverage, like wine, 
and a green liquor made from maize and various fruits. They set no 
value upon the beads, but were much pleased with the hawks' bells, and 
held brass in very high estimation. Columbus, on the following morn- 
ing, took six Indians, to serve as guides, and continued his voyage. He 
next touched at a point which he called Aguja, or the Needle. The 
country about was very populous ana nighly cultivated, and so bea.utiful 
that Columbus gave it the name of the Gardens. Many of the inhabit- 
ants visited the ships, with wrought cotton cloths about their heads and 



S6 



EAKLY HISTOKY OF AMEBICA 



loins, and little plates of gold about their necks. These they would 
have been very glad to exchange for hawks' bells ; but the stock of these 
articles was exhausted. The Spaniards procured some of them, how- 
ever, and were told that there were islands in the neighborhood which 
abounded in gold, though they were inhabited by cannibals. 

Some of the females who came on board wore strings of beads about 
their arms, among which were a number of pearls. These excited the 
curiosin,- and avarice of the Spaniards at once. The boat was sent on 
shore to ascertain the direction of the countries where they might be 
found. The sailors who went in the boat were received in a very hos- 
pitable manner, and conducted to a large house, where they were feasted 
by the natives. Various kinds of bread and fruit were set before them, 
and white and red liquors, resembling wine. These Indians had fairer 
skins, and were more kind and intelligent than any they had before met 
with. 

On the 14th of August, the ships approached the formidable pass to 
which thev had given the name of the Boca del Dragon, or the Dragon's 
Mouth. This was a strait between the extremity of Trinidad and Cape 
Boto. at the end of Paria. and was about five leagues in width. In the 
mean distance there were two islands. The sea at this pass is very tur- 
bulent, foaming as if it were breaking over rocks and shoals. The ships 
passed it, however, in safety, and stood for the westward, where they 
had been told the pearl regions were to be found. Columbus was 
charmed with the beauty of the coast along which their course now lay. 
He touched at various islands during the voyage, two of which were ai"- 
terwards famous for their pearl fisher}-. These were called Margarita, 
and Cubagua. As the Admiral was approaching this latter island, he 
saw a number of Indians in their canoes, fishing for pearls. They im- 




mediately fled towards the land. A boat was sent in pursuit, and a 
sailor, who saw a woman with a large number of pearls about her neck, 
broke up a piece of painted Valencian ware, and gave the fragments to 
her in exchange for them. 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 87 

These were carried to the Admiral, who immediately sent the boat 
oack with a quantity of Valencian ware and little bells. In a short time, 
the sailors returned with about three pounds of pearls ; some were small, 
but others were of considerable size. It has been said that if Columbus 
had seen fit to remain here, he could have collected a sufficient quantity 
of pearls to pay all the expenses that had hitherto accrued in the dis- 
covery and settlement of the New World. But he was in haste to 
return to Hispaniola. His crew had become impatient, and he was him- 
self sick, and suffering under a violent disorder in his eyes. The region 
which he had called Paria, Columbus supposed to have been the situa- 
tion of the terrestrial paradise. He believed it to be elevated above the 
rest of the world, and to enjoy an equality of day and niglit. The fresh 
water which sweetened the gulf of Paria, he supposed to flow from the 
stream spoken of in Scripture, which had its fountain in the garden of 
Eden ! The Admiral, however, did not long indulge this imagination, 
"which," says Charlevoix, "we may consider as one of those fantasies 
to which great men are more subject than any other." 

Columbus immediately set sail for St. Domingo, where he found af- 
fairs in a state of the utmost confusion. Many of the Spaniards whom 
he had left at Isabella, had been slain by the natives, and disease had 
thinned the ranks of those whom the knife had spared. Famine threat- 
ened, distress was busy and deadly, and peril stared on them from every 
side. Rebellion was not idle, and numbers had taken up arms against 
the regular authorities. Under these circumstances, Columbus issued a 
proclamation denouncing the rebels, with Roldan their ringleader, and 
approving the government, and all the measures of Don Bartholomew, 
during his absence. For a considerable period, the history of the island 
is a repetition of successive revolts, followed by accommodations that 
were incessantly interrupted and broken. It possesses but little interest, 
as it is a mere tissue of insubordination and ingratitude. 

The next grand change in the drama, represents Columbus in chains, 
transported as a prisoner across that ocean whose blue waters had been 
first disturbed by his own adventurous bark, and from whose shadows he 
had revealed a New World for the fading dominions of the Old. The 
rumor was no sooner circulated at Cadiz and Seville, that Columbus and 
his brothers had arrived, loaded with chains, and condemned to death, 
than it gave rise to an immediate expression of public indignation. The 
excitement was strong and universal; and messengers were immediately 
dispatched to convey the intelligence to Ferdinand and Isabella, who 
were much moved by this exhibition of popular feeling, and offended 
that their name and authority should have been used to sanction such 
dishonorable violence. They gave orders for the immediate liberation 
of the prisoners, and for their being escorted to Granada with the respect 
and honor they deserved. They annulled all the processes against them, 
without examination, and promised an ample punishment for all their 
wrongs. 

Columbus was not, however, restored to his command at Hispaniola, 
nor was it till many months afterwards that he was placed at the head 
of an expedition to open a new passage to the East Indies. On the 9lh 



88 EAKLT HISTOEY OF AMERICA. 

of May, 1505. Columbus a^in set sail from Cadiz on a voyasre of dis- 
covery. He tirst directed his course to Arzilla. upon the coast of Africa, 
a Portuguese fortress at that time besieged by the Moors. He arrived 
too late to be of any assistance, for the siege had been raised. He sent 
his son and brother upon shore, to pay his respects to the Grovemor, and 
continued on his vo)-age. 

He now touched, as usual, at the Canary Islands, from whence he 
proposed to sail directly for the continent. His largest vessel, however, 
proved so clumsy as to be unfit for service, and he determined on this 
account to steer for Hispaniola. where he found a fleet of eighteen ships 
ready to depart for Sj>ain. Arrived at St. Domingo, Columbus wrote to 
the new Governor, Ovando. requesting permission to enter the harbor, as 
well to exchange one of his vessels, as to procure shelter from a violent 
tempest that wTas expected, recommending in the sam^ letter, that the 
departure of the fleet should be delayed a few days on the same account. 
His request was refused, and his advice neglected. The fleet set sail, 
and on the next night were swallowed up by the waves. Of eighteen 
ships, only two or three escaped. Columbus had taken precautions 
against the storm, which his superior skill and experience had enabled 
him to foresee, and his little squadron was saved. On board of the ves- 
sels which were wT<»cked were BoA-adilla. Roldan. and most of the vi- 
cious and discontented who had been so busy in injuring the Admiral. 
All iheir ill-gt»tten -wealth perished with them. 

Columbus soon left Hispaniola. and sailed towards the continent. Be- 
ing becalmed on his vo\-age. the currents carried him to some small and 
sandv islands, near Jamaica, to which he gave the name of Los Poros, 
or the Wells. Sailing southward, he discovered the island of Guanaia, 
where he had an interview with some natives that he found in a canoe. 
This canoe was eight feet wide, made of one tree, with an awning of 
palm leaves in the middle, for the women and children. It T\-as laden 
with cotton cloths, of several colors, and curiously wrought ; wooden 
swords, edg?d with sharp flints ; small copper hatchets ; bells and plates ; 
and the berries which they called cacao. 

Continuing his vo)-age. on the 2oth of September, Columbus came to 
anchor near a little island called Quiriviri. and a town on the continent, 
the name of which ^vas Cariari. The country here was ven.- beautiful, 
full of forests of palm tr^es, and fine rivers. A large number of the na- 
tives crowded from the adjacent country, some with bows and arrows, 
some with hard and black clubs pvointed with nsh Kmes, as if intending 
to defend themselves from the Spaniards. But j>erceiving they had 
nothing to fear, the Indians were very desirous to barter the articles they 
had with them. 

Columbus proceeded upon his eastward course, stopping at a number 
of islands, and having various communications with the natives. Being 
detained by contrary winds, on the oth of December, he deterrained to 
stand aK>ut, and go in search of some rich gold mines of which he had 
been told, in the province of Veragua. For a number of days, the ships 
were driven about by violent tempests. The rain poured down in tor* 
rents, the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed incessantly. Besides 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA 89 

these dangers, they escaped from a tremendous water-spout, which passed 
very near them, but luckily without injury. On reaching Veragua, the 
Admiral's brother went up the river Belem, in the boats, to find the 
King, Discovering a great many signs of gold, Columbus determined 
to leave a colony here. Eighty men were chosen to remain, and houses 
were built for them covered with palm leaves. One of the ships was to 
be left behind, with a quantity of wine and biscuit, with nets and fishing 
tackle. When every thing was ready for his departure, the Admiral 
found that the river had dried so much that there was not water enough 
to float the ships into the sea, and while detained here on this account, 
it was discovered that Quibio, the Cacique of Veragua, had laid a plan 
to destroy the Spaniards, and burn their settlement. They determined, 
therefore, to take him and his chief men prisoners. A party of seventy- 
six men, under the command of the Admiral's brother, were dispatched 
on this expedition. Arriving in the neighborhood of the house where 
Quibio resided, they advanced, two by two, as silently as possible, and 
obtained possession of the Cacique's person, together with a good deal 
of his Avealth, and a number of his wives and children. 

The prisoners were committed to Juan Sanchez, the chief pilot of the 
squadron, a strong and trustworthy man, Avho undertook to carry them 
safely to the ships. He was told to take special care that the Cacique 
did not escape ; and answered, that he would give them leave to pluck 
out his beard, if he did not keep him from getting away. They had 
come within half a league of the mouth of the river, when Quibio com- 
plained that his hands suffered from the cords with which they were 
bound. Juan Sanchez then loosed him from the seat of the boat, to 
which he was tied, and held the rope in his own hand, and a little while 
after, Quibio threw himself into the water, and sunk to the bottom. 
Night was coming on, and the Spaniards could neither hear nor see what 
afterwards became of him. The lieutenant, on the next day, returned to 
the ships with his prisoners and plunder. 

The river having now been swollen by the rains, Columbus was able 
to set sail with three of his ships for Spain. When Quibio saw that the 
vessels had left the coast, he immediately surrounded, with his warriors, 
the little colony that had remained behind. The lieutenant was a man 
not to be easily discouraged ; he went out against the Indians with a 
very small number of followers, and with the assistance of a dog, put 
them all to flight. It so happened that, at the very time of this attack, a 
boat had been sent from the ships to procure water. For this pvirpose 
the captain of it was going some distance up the river, and, though 
warned of the danger, would not desist from his undertaking. The river 
was very deep, and sheltered on both sides by overhanging trees and 
thick bushes, which grew down to the very edge of the water. When 
the boat had gone about a league from the colony, the Indians rushed 
out from the thickets on each side, in their canoes, blowing horns, and 
making the most hideous noises. 

The canoes could be easily managed by one man, and all the rest of 
the crews were busy in sending their arrows and javelins. In such a 
shower of darts the Spaniards were obliged to drop the oars, and protect 



90 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

themselves with their targets. But there were such a multitude of In- 
dians surrounding them from every quarter, that the seven or eight men 
in the boat were soon pierced with a thousand wounds. Only one of them 
escaped, who threw himself, unobserved, into the water, and swam to 
shore. Pursuing his way through the thickest of the wood, he reached 
the colony in safety. 

The Spaniards were much terrified at the intelligence, and still more 
affected, when the bodies of their companions came floating down the 
river, covered with wounds, and followed by the birds of prey. They 
determined not to remain in the country, and immediately removed from 
the thickets, where their houses were built, to the open plain. Here 
they constructed a kind of bulwark with casks and chests, and planted 
cannon about them at convenient distances. The sea beat so heavily, 
that it was impossible to have any communication with the ships. Co- 
lumbus was alarmed at the long absence of the boat, but Avas unable to 
send another in search of it. He remained ten days in this condition, 
during which time the captive Indians escaped, by bursting the hatches 
at night, and leaping into the water. At length one of the sailors propos- 
ed to the Admiral that he should be carried in the boat to a certain dis- 
tance from shore, and that he would swim the rest of the way, and 
discover what had become of their companions. 

This man was Pedro Ledesma, a native of Seville. Being borne to 
within about a musket shot of land, he plunged into the swelling and 
foaming waves, and succeeded in reaching the shore. He here learned 
what had happened — the loss of his comrades, and the determination of 
the colonists not to remain. With this information, Ledesma swam 
back to the boat that Avas waiting for him. As soon as the waters be- 
came more quiet, those who had been left on shore lashed a couple of 
Indian canoes together, loaded them with their effects, and, leaving be- 
hind them only the worm-eaten hulk of the ship, made for the little fleet 
of the Admiral. 

The three ships then set sail, and held on their course to Porto Bello, 
where they were obliged to leave one of the vessels, because it was so 
worm-eaten and leaky. Continuing their voyage, they passed the Tor- 
tugas, and reached the cluster of islands which had been called the 
Queen's Garden. While at anchor in this place, about ten leagues from 
Cuba, with very little to eat, and their vessels exceedingly leaky, a great 
storm arose, and the two remaining ships were driven with such violence 
against each other, that it was with difficulty they escaped, even with 
great injury. Sailing hence, with much toil and danger, they reached 
an Indian village on the coast of Cuba, where they procured some water 
and provisions, and departed for Jamaica. They were obliged to keep 
continually working at three pumps in each of the vessels. With all 
this, however, they could not prevent the water from gaining upon them 
with great rapidity ; and Avhen they put into the harbor of Puerto Bue- 
no, it almost came up to the decks. Leaving this port, they run their 
vessels ashore as far as possible, in the harbor of Santa Gloria, and 
built sheds upon the decks for the men to lie in. 

They were thus situated about a bow-shot from the land. It happened 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 91 

that the Indians of the island were peaceable and well disposed, and came 
off from all quarters, in their canoes, to traffic. They brought to the 
ships some little creatures like rabbits, and cakes of bread, which they 
called zabi, which they were glad to exchange for hawks' bells and glass 
beads. Sometimes the Spaniards gave a cacique a looking-glass, or a 
red cap, and perhaps a pair of scissors. It was now necessary tD devise 
means to leave the island. They had no tools to build a new ship 
with, and it was in vain to stay in hopes that some vessel from Spain 
would fail in with them. The Admiral thought the best course would 
be to send word to Hispaniola, and request that a ship might be sent to 
them with ammunition and provisions. Two canoes were, according- 
ly, selected for this purpose, and committed to Diego Mendez and Bar- 
tholomew Fiesco, with six Spaniards and ten Indians to manage 
them. They went along the coast of Jamaica, to the eastern extremity, 
where it was thirty leagues distant from Hispaniola, and put out to 
sea. 

Shortly after the canoes had departed, the men on shore began to 
grow discontented, and a violent sickness broke out among them. They 
became turbulent and seditious. The leaders of the sedition were two 
natives of Seville, brothers, by the name of Porras. One of them open- 
ly insulted the Admiral on the deck of his ship, and, turning his back on 
him, exclaimed, " I am for Spain, with all that will follow me." About 
forty of the most mutinous joined with him, and, seizing some canoes 
which the Admiral had purchased, departed for the eastern extremity of 
the island. These conspirators treated the natives very cruelly upon the 
way, committing various outrages, and compelling them to row their ca- 
noes for Hispaniola. The sea soon grew rough, and they threw every 
thing they could spare overboard, in order to lighten their slender barks. 
At last they threw over even the helpless natives who had been forced 
into their service, and left them to perish in the waves. With much dif- 
ficulty the canoes reached the shore. They again ventured out once ox 
twice, after an interval of several weeks, and were again driven back by 
the winds. From the many excesses committed by these men, and the 
increasing scarcity of provisions, the Indians at length began to neglect 
even those who had remained with the Admiral, and whom they had 
hitherto supplied with sufficient quantities of food. Columbus was de- 
sirous to awe the natives into a compliance with his requests. He knew 
that on a certain night there was to be an eclipse of the moon. On the 
day before this event, he invited all the caciques and chief men of the 
place to an assembly. He here told them through an interpreter, that 
the SpaniasJs believed in a God, who dwelt in Heaven, rewarding the 
good and punishing the evil ; that this deity had been offended with the 
wicked who rebelled, and had raised up the winds and tempests against 
them ; that he was angry with the Indians for their negligence in not 
furnishing food for the white men, and that he would that night give 
them a sign of his indignation in the skies. The Indians listened, and 
departed, some in terror, some in scorn. But when the eclipse began, as 
the moon was rising, they were all struck with fear and confusion. They 
came running with cries and lamentations from every quarter, bringing 



92 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

provisions, and praying the Admiral to intercede for them. Columbus 
shut himself up while the eclipse lasted, and when he saw it begin to go 
off. he came out of his cabin, and warned them to use the Christians 




well in future, and bring them all they should require of them. From 
that time supplies of provisions were always abundant. 

Eight months passed after the departure of Mendez and Fiesco, before 
any notice was received of their arrival. Other desertions were on the 
point of taking place, when, towards dusk, one evening, a carav^el was 
espied in the distance. It proved to have been sent from Hispaniola, 
under the command of Diego de Escobar. He had orders not to go on 
shore, nor to permit his crew to have any communication with the fol- 
lowers of the Admiral. Escobar went in his boat to deliver to Columbus 
a letter from the Governor, and a present of a cask of wine, and a couple 
of hams ; then, returning to his caravel, he sailed away that very even- 
ing. The Admiral was very much surprised at this singular conduct, 
and the people thought the Governor intended to leave them there with- 
out assistance. But Columbus soothed them Avith such explanations as 
he could invent; told them that Mendez had arrived safely at Hispa- 
niola, and gave promises of speedy relief. He now turned his attention 
towards arranging affairs with the rebels. Messengers were sent to 
them, whom they insulted and dismissed ; and it was at last necessary to 
come to open battle with them. For this purpose fifty men, well armed, 
were selected from those who continued faithful to Columbus, and put 
under the command of the Adelantado. Having arrived at a small hill, 
about a bow-shot from the camp of the rebels, two messengers were sent 
before, to request a peaceable conference with their leaders. They re- 
fused to listen to them, but fell, with swords and spears, upon the party 
of the Adelantado, thinking to rout them immediately. The rebels, 
however, were finally dispersed with some slaughter. On the next day, 
all who had escaped joined in an humble petition to the Admiral, repent- 
ing of their past conduct, and declaring themselves ready to return to 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 93 

their duty. Columbus granted their request, upon condition that their 
captain should remain a prisoner, as a hostage for their good behavior. 
They were accordingly quartered about the island, in such places as were 
most convenient, till the arrival of a ship from Hispaniola. 

Some days now passed, when Diego Mendez arrived with a vessel 
which he had purchased and fitted out at St. Domingo, on the Admiral's 
credit. They immediately embarked on board of it, and, sailing with 
contrary winds, reached St. Domingo on the 13th of August, 1504. 
The Governor received the Admiral with the greatest respect and cere- 
mony, but his kindness was only forced and treacherous. He set Porras 
free from his chains, and attempted to punish those who were concerned 
in his arrest. Columbus remained here till his ship was refitted and 
another hired, and in these vessels they pursued their voyage to Spain. 

Setting sail on the 12th of September, the mast of one of the ships 
was carried by the board, when they were about two leagues from shore. 
This ship returned to the harbor, and the Admiral pursued his voyage in 
the other. The weather proved very stormy, and the remaining ship 
was much shattered before she arrived at St. Lucar. At this port Co- 
lumbus received the sad intelligence of the death of his noble patron, 
Isabella. He then repaired to Seville. 

But he was doomed to submit to the evils of that ingratitude, which is 
not the growth of republics only, but often finds a genial soil under the 
shadow of a throne. The discoverer of a world, and the natural master 
of the empire he had found, Columbus was obliged, in his old age, to 
submit to the caprices and insults of a narrow-minded monarch, to whose 
insignificance his own magnanimity was a continual reproach. Deluded 
with promises, foiled with disappointments, exhausted with the toil and 
Hardship of momentous and ill requited enterprise, mortified by unde- 
served neglect, disgusted by the baseness and meanness of a servile 
court, and an ungrateful King, oppressed with infirmity, and cares, and 
wretchedness, Columbus died at Valladolid, on the 20th of May, 1506. 
His death was worthy of his character and his fame ; marked by no 
violent emotion, calm, composed, and happy; blessed by the memory 
of what he had done for mankind, and cheered by the hopes of a holy 
faith. A fit end to the great drama of his life !* 

* " Columbus could never forget the ignominy of his chains. He preserved the 
fetters, hung them up in his apartment, and ordered them to be buried in his gi-ave. 
In compliance with his request, his body was removed from Seville to the island of 
St. Domingo, and deposited, with his chains, in a tjrass cofiin, on the right of the 
high altar of the Cathedral of St. Domingo. There his bones remained, until the 
Spanish part of the island was ceded to France, in 1795. In consequence of this ces- 
sion, the descendants of Columbus requested that his remains might be removed to 
Cuba. On the 19th of January, 1796, the brass coffin which contained the ashes of 
this great man, together with a chain which served as a memorial of his sovereign's 
weakness, was carried down to the harbor in procession, under fire of the forts, and 
put on board a brig of war, to be removed to Havana. The brig arrived safely in 
the harbor of Havana, and the remains of the discoverer of America were buried 
with all the pomp and ceremony that could be bestowed upon them." 



95 



EARLY ADVENTURES IN NORTH AMERICA. 



The exploits of Columbus having excited a great sensation among the 
English merchants, and at the Court of Henry VII., the adventurous 
spirit of John Cabot, heightened by the ardor of his son Sebastian, led 
him to propose to the King to undertake a voyage of discovery, with the 
twofold object of becoming acquainted with new territories, and of real- 
izing the long-desired object of a western passage to China and the In- 
dies. A commission was accordingly granted, on the 5th of March, 
1497, to him and his three sons, giving them liberty to sail to all parts 
of the east, west, and north, under the royal banners and ensigns, to dis- 
cover countries of the heathen, unknown to Christians ; to set up the 
King's banners there ; to occupy and possess, as his subjects, such places 
as they could subdue ; giving them the rule and jurisdiction of the 
same, to be holden on condition of paying to the King one fifth part of 
all their gains. By virtue of this commission, a small fleet was equipped, 
partly at the King's expense, and partly at that of private individuals, in 
which the Cabots embarked with a company of three hundred mariners. 
Our knowledge of this voyage is collected from many detached and im- 
perfect notices of it in different authors, who, while they establish the 
general facts in the most unquestionable manner, differ in many parti- 
cular circumstances. The most probable account is, that Cabot sailed 
north-west a few weeks, until his progress was arrested by floating ice- 
bergs, when he shaped his course to the south-west, and soon came in 
sight of a shore named by him Prima Vista, and generally believed to be 
some part of Labrador, or Newfoundland. Thence he steered northward 
again to the sixty-seventh degree of latitude, where he was obliged to 
turn back by the discontent of his crew. He sailed along the coast in 
search of an outlet as far as the neighborhood of the Gulf of Mexico, 
when a mutiny broke out in the ship's company, in consequence of 
*vhich the farther prosecution of the voyage was abandoned. Cabot 
itjached England with several savages and a valuable cargo, although 
Some writers deny that he ever landed in America, and it is certain that 
tie did not attempt any conquest or settlement there. 

This voyage was not immediately followed by any important conse 
|uences ; but it is memorable as being the first that is. certainly ascer- 
\ ined to have been effected to this continent, and as constituting the title 
■)y which the English claimed the territories that they subsequently ac- 
quired here. Through a singular succession of causes, during more 
than sixty years from the time of this discovery of the northern division 
of the continent by the English, their monarchs gave but little attention to 
this country, which was destined tr? be annexed to their crown, and to be 



?)6 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

one principal source of British opulence and power, till, in the march of 
events, it should rise into an independent empire. This remarkable 
neglect is in some measure accounted for by the frugal maxims of Henry 
VII., and the unpropitious circumstances of the reign of Henry VIII., of 
Edward VI., and of the bigoted Mary; reigns peculiarly adverse to the 
extension of industry, trade, and navigation. 

While English enterprise slumbered, both France and Spain were ac- 
tive and successful. Francis I. sent a vessel called the Dauphin, to the 
American coast, commanded by Juan Verazzano, a Florentine, who had 
distinguished himself by his successful cruises against the Spaniards. 
In this voyage he discovered Florida, and sailed seven hundred leagues 
on the North American coast, which he named New France. He made 
another voyage in the following year, when he landed with some of his 
crew, was seized by the savages, and killed and devoured in the pre- 
sence of his companions on board, who sought in vain to give him any 
assistance. The gloomy impression produced by the tragic fate of Ve- 
razzano seems to have deterred others, for some time, from such enter- 
prises, and for several succeeding years neither the King nor the nation 
seems to have thought any more of America. 

After a lapse of ten years, these enterprises were renewed, and Jacques 
Cartier, a bold seaman of Malo, who proposed another voyage, was rea- 
dily supplied -with two ships under the direction of the Vice-Admiral of 
France. His first voyage resulted in the discovery of the Baye des 
Ohaleurs, and the Gulf of St. La^^Tence. In the following spring, a 
large expedition was equipped, and proceeded direct to Newfoundland. 
Discovering the river afterwards called the St. La\ATence, he sailed up 
this stream three hundred leagues, to a great and swift fall, made friends 
of the natives on its banks, took possession of the territory, built a fort, 
»nd wintered in the country, Avhich he called New France. The next 
spring Cartier returned with the remains of his crew, which had been 
much diminished by the scurvy. He carried with him Donnacona, the 
Indian King of the country, whom he had made captive partly by force, 
and partly by stratagem. On his return, he represented to the King the 
immense advantages which might result from a settlement in that coun- 
try, for the purpose of carrying on the fur trade ; but his advice Avas 
slighted, and the proposed establishment delayed. Francis I. afterwards 
became aware of the importance of the enterprise, and dispatched Car- 
tier with the appointment of Captain-General, and with five ships. Af- 
ter a long and boisterous passage, Cartier arrived at Newfoundland, 
thence proceeded to Canada, and on the 23d of August, 1535, arrived at 
the harbor of St. Croix. But this enterprise was also mfelicitous in its 
issue, and for half a century the French made no further attempt to esta- 
blish therhselves in Canada. 

To give a brief narrative of the Spanish attempts at colonization in 
North America, it was in the year 1528 that Pamphilo de Narvaez, hav- 
ing obtained from Charles V. the grant of all the land lying from the 
River of Palms to the Cape of Florida, sailed from Cuba, in March, with 
five ships, on board of which were four hundred foot, and twenty horse, 
for the conquest of the country. Landing at Forida, he marched to Apa- 



1 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 97 

lache, a village consisting of forty cottages, where he arrived on the 5th 
of June. Having lost many of his men by the natives, who harassed 
the troops on their march, and with whom they had a sharp engagement, 
he was obliged to direct his course towards the sea. Sailing to the 
westward, he was lost, with many others, in a violent storm, about the 
middle of November, and the enterprise was frustrated. Calamitous as 
was. the issue of this expedition, it did not extinguish the Spanish pas- 
sion for adventure, and Fernando de Soto, a distinguished companion of 
Pizarro, was created Adelantado of Florida, combining the offices of Go- 
vernor-General, and Commander in chief. On the 18th of May, 1539, 
Soto set sail from Havana on this expedition, with nine vessels, nine 
hundred soldiers, two hundred and thirteen horse, and a herd of swine. 
This army met with various disasters, and suffered much from disease 
and the attacks of the savages. Soto died, and to conceal his loss from 
the Indians, his body was put into a hollowed oak, and sunk in a river. 
The small remains of his army, consisting of three hundred and eleven 
men, arrived at Panaco on the 10th of September, 1543, and all con- 
cerned in this great expedition were reduced to poverty and distress. 

About the year 1562, the Huguenots made an effort to colonize Flori- 
da, but after suffering deeply from shipwreck, sickness, and Spanish cru- 
elty, they were completely destroyed. The expeditious of Laudonniere 
and Ribault entirely failed. Ribault was massacred with his troops, 
by the Spaniards, after a pledge of safety, and their bodies were not only 
covered with repeated wounds, but were cut in pieces and treated with 
the most shocking indignities. A number of the mangled limbs of the 
victims were then suspended to a tree, to which was attached the follow- 
ing inscription : — " Not because they are Frenchmen, but because they 
are heretics, and enemies of God." To revenge this barbarous massa- 
cre, Dominique de Gourgues determined to devote himself and his for- 
tune. 

He found means to equip three small vessels, and to put on board of 
them eighty sailors, and one hundred and fifty troops. Having crossed 
the Atlantic, he sailed along the coast of Florida, and landed at a river 
about fifteen leagues distance from the May. The Spaniards, to the 
number of four hundred, were well fortified, principally at the great fort, 
begun by the French, and afterwards repaired by themselves. Two 
leagues lower towards the river's mouth, they had made two smaller 
forts, which were defended by a hundred and twenty soldiers, well supplied 
with artillery and ammunition. Gourgues, though informed of their 
strength, proceeded resolutely forward, and, with the assistance of the 
natives, riade a vigorous and desperate assault. Of sixty Spaniards in 
the first fort, there escaped but fifteen ; and all in the second fort were 
slain. After a company of Spaniards, sallying out from the third fort, 
nad been intercepted, and killed on the spot, this last fortress was easily 
taken. All the surviving Spaniards were led away prisoners, with the 
fifteen who escaped the massacre at the first fort ; and, after having been 
shown the injury that they had done to the French nation, were hung on 
the boughs of the same trees on which the Frenchmen had been previ- 
ously suspended. Gourgues, in retaliation for the label Menendez had 



9S . EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

attached to the bodies of the French, placed over the corpses of the 
Spaniards the following declaration: — "I do not this as to Spaniards, 
nor as to mariners, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers." Having 
razed the three forts, he hastened his preparation to return ; and on the 
3d of May, embarked all that was valuable in the forts, and set sail for 
La Rochelle. In that Protestant capital he was received with the loud- 
est acclamations. At Bordeaux these were reiterated, and he was ad- 
vised to proceed to Paris, where, however, he met with a very different 
reception. Philip had already an embassy demanding his head, which 
Charles and Catharine were not disinclined to give, and had taken steps 
for bringing him to trial, but they found the measure so excessively un- 
popular, that they were obliged to allow him to retire into Normandy. 
Subsequently he regained royal favor, and found ample employment in 
the service of his countr)\ 

Tnns terminated the attempts of the French Protestants to colonize 
Florida. Had the efforts of Ribault or Laudonniere been supported by 
the Government, France might have had vast colonial dependencies be- 
t(»re Britain had established a single settlement in the New World, in- 
stead cf inscribing on the pages of history a striking instance of the 
ruinous and enduring effects of religious hatred, alike on individual and 
national fortune. 

One of the most important objects of maritime enterprise in the reign 
of Elizabeth, was the discovery of a passage to India by the north of 
America ; but notwithstanding the utmost exertions of the most eminent 
naval characters, Frobisher, Davis, and Hudson, the attempt proved ut- 
terly abortive. In the same year, however, in which Frobisher's third 
voyage terminated so unsuccessfully, Sir Walter Raleigh, with his half 
brother and kindred spirit. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, projected the establish- 
ment of a colony in that quarter of America which the Cabots had visited 
in the reign of Henr}- VII., and a patent for this purpose was procured 
without difficulty, from Elizabeth. One enterprise under Gilbert failed, 
from tempestuous weather, but by the aid of Sir George Peckham, Sir 
Walter Raleigh, and other persons of distinction, he was enabled to 
equip another expedition, with which, in 15S3, he again put to sea. 

On the 30th of July, Gilbert discovered land in about fifty-one degrees 
north latitude ; but. finding nothing but bare rocks, he shaped his course 
to the southward, and on the 3d of August arrived at St. John's harbor, 
at Newfoundland. There were at that time in the harbor, thirty-six ves- 
sels, belonging to various nations, and they refused him entrance ; but, 
on sending his boat with the assurance that he had no ill design, and 
that he had a commission from Queen Elizabeth, they submitted, and 
he sailed into the port. Having pitched his tent on shore, in sight of all 
the shipping, and being attended by his own people, he summoned the 
merchants and masters of vessels to be present at the ceremony of his 
taking possession of the island. When assembled, his commission was 
read and interpreted to the foreigners. A turf and twig were then delivered 
to him ; and proclnmation was immediately made, that, by ^-irtue of his 
commission from the Queen, he took possession of the harbor of St. John, 
and two hundred leagues every way around it, for the cro^vn of England, 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 99 

He then, as the authorized Governor, proposed and delivered three laws, 
to be in force immediately ; by the first, public worship was established 
according to the church of England ; by the second, the attempting of 
any thing prejudicial to her Majesty's title was declared treason; by the 
third, if any person should utter words to the dishonor of her Majesty, 
he should lose his ears, and have his ship and goods confiscated. When 
the proclamation was finished, obedience was promised by the general 
voice, both of Englishmen and strangers. Not far from the place of 
meeting, a pillar was afterwards erected, upon which were engraved the 
arms of England. For the better establishment of this possession, seve- 
ral parcels of land were granted by Sir Humphrey, by which the occu- 
pants were guaranteed grounds convenient to dress and dry their fish, 
of which privilege they had often been debarred, by those who had pre- 
viously entered the harbor. For these grounds they covenanted to pay 
a certain rent and service to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, his heirs or assigns, 
for ever, and to maintain possession of them, by themselves or assignees. 
This formal possession, in consequence of the discovery by the Cabots, 
is considered the foundation of the right and title of the crown of Eng- 
land to the territory of Newfoundland, and to the fishery on its banks. 
Gilbert, intending to bring the southern parts of the country within his 
patent, the term of which had now nearly expired, hastened to make 
farther discoveries before his return to England. He therefore embarked 
from St. John's harbor with his little fleet, and sailed for the Isle of Sa- 
ble, by the way of Cape Breton. After spending eight days in the navi- 
gation from Cape Race towards Cape Breton, the ship Admiral was cast 
away on some shoals, before any discovery of land, and nearly one hun- 
dred persons perished ; among those was Stephen Parmenius Budeius, a 
learned Hungarian, who had accompanied the adventurers, to record 
their discoveries and exploits. Two days after this disaster, no land yet 
appearing, the waters being shallow, the coast unknown, the navigation 
dangerous, and the provisions scanty, it was resolved to return to Eng- 
land. Changing their course accordingly, they passed in sight of Cape 
Race on the 2d of September, but when they had sailed more than three 
hundred leagues on their way home, the frigate commanded by Sic 
Humphrey Gilbert himself, foundered in a violent storm, at midniglit, 
and every soul on board perished. 



101 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



VIRGINIA. 

Terrible as was the fate of Gilbert and his associates, the ardor of 
Raleigh was not daunted, nor his energies depressed. High in favor 
with Elizabeth, he found no difficulty in procuring a patent similar to that 
which had been granted to his unfortunate brother. Prompt in the exe- 
cution, as intrepid in the projection of his plans, he speedily equipped two 
small vessels, under Amadas and Barlow, to obtain further information of 
the coasts, the soil, and the inhabitants of the regions he designed to 
colonize. Approaching America by the Gulf of Florida, they touched first 
at the island of Ocakoke, which runs parallel to the greater part of North 
Carolina, and then at Roanoke, near the mouth of Albemarle sound. 
In both they had some intercourse with the natives, whom they found to 
be savages, with all the characteristic qualities of uncivilized life — bra- 
very, aversion to labor, hospitality, a propensity to admire, and a willing- 
ness to exchange their rude productions for English commodities, espe- 
cially for iron, or any of the useful metals of which they were destitute. 
After spending a few weeks in this traffic, and in visiting some parts of 
the adjacent continent, Amadas and Barlow returned to England, and 
gave a most fervid description of the country they had been sent to explore. 
Their own words, as contained in their report to Sir Waller Raleigh, 
will convey a better idea of the mode of narrative adopted, and the 
effect produced, than any language of ours. " The soile," say they. 
" is the most plentifull, sweete, fruitfull and wholesome of all the worlde ; 
there are above fourteene severall sweete smelling timber trees, and the 
most part of their underwoods are bayes and such like ; they have those 
okes that we have, but farre greater and better. After they had bene di- 
vers times aboord our shippes, myselfe, with seven more, went twentie 
mile into the river that runneth towarde the citie of Skicoak, which river 
they call Occam ; and the evening following, we came to an island, which 
they call Raonoak, distant from the harbor by which we entered seven 
leagues ; and at the north end thereof was a village of nine houses, built 
of cedar, and fortified round about with sharpe trees to keep out their 
enamies, and the entrance into it made like a turnpike, very artificially; 
when we came tow? rdes it, standing neere unto the waters' side, the wife 
of Granganimo, the king's brother, came running out to meete us very 
cheerfully and friendly ; her husband was not then in the village ; some 
of her people shee commanded to drawe our boate on shore for the beat- 
ing of the billoe, others she appointed to cary us on their backes to the 
dry ground, and others to bring our oares into the house for leare of steal- 



102 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

ing. When we were come into the utter roome, having five roomes 
in her house, she caused us to sit downe by a greate fire, and after tooke 
off our clothes and washed them, and dried them againe ; some of the 
women plucked off our stockings, and washed them, some washed 
our feete in warm water, and she herself tooke great paines to see all 
things ordered in the best manner she could, making great haste to dresse 
some meate for us to eate. After we had thus dryed ourselves, she brought 
us into the inner roome, where shea set on the boord standing along the 
house, some wheate like furmentie ; sodden venison and roasted ; fish, 
sodden, boyled and roasted ; melons, rawe and sodden ; rootes of divers 
kindes ; and divers fruites. Their drinke is commonly water, but while 
the grape lasteth, they drinke wine, and for want of caskes to keepe it, all 
the yere after they drmk water, buc it is sodden with ginger in it, and 
black sinamon, and sometimes sassaphras, and divers other wholesome 
and medicinable hearbes and trees. We were entertained \vith all love 
and kindnesse, and with as much bountie, after their maner, as they could 
possibly devise. We found the people most gentle, loving, and faithfull, 
voide of all guile and treason, and such as live after the manner of the 
golden age. The people onley care howe to defend themselves from the 
cold in their short winter, and to feed themselves with such meat as the 
soile affordeth ; their meat is very well sodden, and they make broth very 
sweete and savorie ; their vessels are earthen pots, very large, white, and 
sweete ; their dishes are wooden platters of sweete timber. Within the 
place where they feede was their lodging, and within that their idoli, 
which they worship, of whom they speake incredible things. While we 
were at meate, there came in at the gates two or three men with their bowes 
and arrowes from hunting, whom, when we espied, we beganne to looke 
one towardes another, and offered to reach our weapons ; but as soone as shee 
espied our mistrust, shee was very much mooved, and caused some of her 
men to runne out, and take away their bowes and arrowes and breake 
them, and withall, beate the poore fellowes out of the gate againe. When 
we departed in the evening, and would not tarry all night, she was very 
sory, and gave us into our boate our supper half dressed, poties and all, and 
brought us to our boate side, in which we lay all night, removing the same 
a prettie distance from the shoare ; shee perceiving our jealousie, was 
much grieved, and sent divers men and thirtie women to sit all night oa 
the banke-side by us, and sent us into our boates five mattes, to cover us 
from the raine, using very many wordes to intreate us to rest in their hous- 
es ; but because we were fewe men, and if we had miscarried the voy- 
age had bene in very great danger, we durst not adventure any thing, al- 
though there was no cause of doubt, for a more kinde and loving peo- 
ple there cannot be found in the worlde, as far as we have hitherto had 
triaU." 

Delighted with the prospect of possessing a territory so far superior to 
any hitherto visited by her subjects, Elizabeth was pleased to honor both 
the newly discovered country and herself, by bestowing upon it the title 
of Virginia. 

Soon after the return of the two ships. Sir Walter Raleigh was elected 
a member of Parliament from Devonshire. He was also knighted by 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 103 

the Queen ; andliispatentwasconfirmedby an act of Parliament. Seven 
ships were immediately prepared for a second expedition, and placed 
under the command of Ralph Lane and Sir Richard Granville. This 
little squadron reached the American coast on the 26th of July, 1585, 
and dropped their anchors outside of the bar, at Wococon. Lane and 
Granville, with fifty or sixty officers and men, immediately crossed the 
sound in boats, to explore the country. 

Under the guidance of Mantee, an Indian who had sailed for England 
' Mth the first expedition, and now returned, they made several excursions 
upon the coast, and discovered some Indian villages. They next venture 
ed about eighty leagues, as they supposed, to the southward. In this di- 
rection, the utmost limits of their discoveries was an Indian place called 
Socotan, near the present site of Beaufort, where they were civilly enter- 
tained by Wingini,an Indian chieftain. Here the water became so full of 
flats and shoals, that the English pinnaces could go no further. As they 
had but one small boat, and this could carry but four oars and fifteen men, 
with provisions for a few days, they concluded to turn back. Some of 
the party proceeded to "Wococon by the shortest course ; but Granville, 
with the rest, returned to Aquascosack, a town on the waters of the Neuse. 
His object there was to demand a silver cup, which was stolen from him. 
when he had first visited that town on his late circuit. He obtained *.he 
promise of its return, but the promise was not kept ; and the Indians, ap- 
prehending danger, in consequence of his expected anger, fled to the 
woods. This drew upon them the indiscriminate vengeance of the Eng- 
lish commander. The town of Aquascosack was burnt, and the standing 
corn and other crops utterly destroyed. This was a rash proceeding, to 
speak of it in the mildest terms ; and it afterwards cost the English set- 
tlers very dear, by enraging the natives. 

After this outrage, Granville sailed to the island of Roanoke, where he 
left behind him one hundred and eight persons, as the foundation of a 
colony. Mr. Lane was appointed Governor ; and Armidas, one of the 
captains in the former voyage, was appointed Admiral. Thomas Heriot, 
a famous mathematician, and particular friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, 
also remained with the colony. 

On the 18th of September, Granville arrived at Plymouth, bringing 
in with him a rich Spanish prize, which he had the good fortune to take 
on his passage. The chief employment of the colony at Roanoke, mean- 
while, was to explore the country for the purpose of acquiring a know- 
ledge of its geography and its productions. Governor Lane made various 
excursions along the coast during the fall and winter. He was accom- 
panied by Mr. Wythe, a skilful English painter, sent out by Raleigh, to 
take sketches of the situation of the country, and the figures and fashions 
of the natives. To the north. Lane advanced as far as the territories of 
the Chesapeakes, an Indian nation seated on a small river, now called 
Elizabeth, which falls into the great bay of Chesapeake, below Norfolk. 
To the north-west, he went up Albemarle sound and the river Chowan, 
more than one hundred miles, to the settlements of a nation of Indians called 
the Chowanokes. These lived a little beyond the fork of the river, where 
one branch now takes the name of Nottoway, and the other of Meherrin. 



104 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

But as Governor Lane undertook to effect his purposes among the na- 
tives by force always, instead of persuasion, he met with indifferent suc- 
cess. The Indians had by this time become a little jealous of the colo- 
»ists ; and the best friend of the latter, Granganimo, died in the spring of 
vhis year, 1586. Gold was the idol of the adventurers, and to the neg- 
lect of every thing else they pursued this continually elusive phantom. 
Their provisions were exhausted, and they had taken no measures to re- 
new them by agriculture. Reduced to the utmost distress, they were 
on the point of dispersing to various quarters in search of food, when Sir 
Francis Drake, who had been engaged in a successful expedition against 
the Spaniards in the West Indies, appeared unexpectedly to their relief, 
and carried the fatigued and famishing colonists to England. 

One consequence of this abortive attempt to found a colony, is of suf- 
ficient importance to make it celebrated in history. Lane and his compan- 
ions had acquired from the Indians the habit of smoking tobacco, and car- 
rying a specimen of this new luxury to England, the use of it was soon 
adopted by Raleigh and other young men of fashion. Fashion, and a 
capricious notion of its salutary influence, soon diffused a general fond- 
ness for this disagreeable weed, till the demand for it has become uni- 
Tersal. 

Raleigh still remained attached to his scheme of colonizing, and in 
1587 dispatched another body of adventurers, incorporated under the ti- 
tle of the Borough of Raleigh in Virginia. The bay of Chesapeake was 
designated as the spot for the erection of a fort, and the settlement 
of the company. On the 16th of July, after a passage of about se- 
venty days, the expedition made the coast of Virginia, and arriving at 
Hatteras, the Governor with a select party visited the island of Roanoke, 
to ascertain Avhat vestiges might be found of the party left there the pre- 
ceding year. The bones of a man were the sole relics of the colony. 
Dwelling-houses and a fort had been erected by Lane in the northern 
quarter of the island ; but the fort was razed, and deer were feeding qui- 
etly in the houses which had been overgrown with creepers and weeds. 
This sight filled the adventurers with the saddest apprehensions, 
and they could only speculate on the probable means by which 
their companions had come to their death. Orders were immediately 
given for the erection of new, and the repair of the old cottages, and a 
second plantation was immediately commenced by a colony of one hun- 
dred and seventeen persons. 

Before the close of the month of August, the Governor, Mr. John White, 
in whom, with a council of twelve, the legislative power of the colony 
was vested, sailed for England to procure supplies. At this time the na- 
tion was engrossed by the expected invasion of the Spanish armada, but 
Raleigh still contrived to send out White with two more vessels, which 
were unfortunately attacked by the enemy, and so shattered as to be com- 
pelled to return. It was not till 1590, that another expedition succeeded 
in reaching Virginia, when they found a scene of similar tragic character 
with that which had been before displayed. No living trace of the colo- 
ny was to be found. The palisades were still standing about their houses, 
and their unconsumed stores were found hidden in the earth ; but no 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 105 

voice told their story, and no certain though silent testimony was found 
of their fate. If they had been slain by savage incursion, every trace of 
blood and fire was carefully removed, and not a bleached bone was left 
to bear witness of the tragedy. They had perished beyond a doubt, but 
whether by the sea or land, by the war of the elements, or the still more 
cruel war of the human passions, was and remains a mystery. Thus 
terminated the noble efforts of the generous and accomplished Raleigh, to 
plant a colony in the western hemisphere. In four several expeditions 
he had expended forty thousand pounds, without any return ; and he was 
without much difficulty induced to surrender the privileges of his patent 
to other hands. The mercantile company into whose possession this pa- 
tent fell, carried on a slight traffic in a few small barks, but made no effort to 
make a settlement in the country. Thus, after more than a century after 
the discovery of North America by Cabot, not an individual English resi- 
dent remained in the new world. Shipwreck and famine, savage warfare 
and domestic dissensions, had frustrated every effort to establish an Eng- 
lish colony beyond the ocean, as if it were indeed the "dissocial" waste 
imagined by the ancients, whose waters it were impious to violate and 
impossible to pass. 

The colonization of America awaited the energy of a new impulse, and 
the first permanent settlement in Virginia was made in 1606, by an expedi- 
tion under the command of Christopher Newport. He entered the magnifi- 
cent bay of Chesapeake, the spacious reservoir of innumerable waters, and 
gave the names of Henry and Charles to its southern and northern pro- 
montories. Every object which met the eyes of the adventurers as they 
sailed up the broad and shining bosom of the great Chesapeake, excited 




their imaginations and their hopes. The banks of the bay, upon all sides, 
as far as sight could reach, were covered with the fresh green beauty of 
sprinjg. There were large and majestic navigable rivers, and between 
then, a variety of mountains, plains and valleys stretching far away in 
the distance. Bright rivulets came dashing down the hills, and fell into 
the bay. Innumerable birds sported and sang in the green woods upon 



106 EAELY HISTOST OF AMEKICA. 

die sIkkv uid ^ Elands ; llie fi^ Inqped from die sami j tnicrs utwnd 
di«n : utd all natxire scmwd to m tJcoiae tlie coming^ of the new cokwr 
withsoiiles^ 

Tlie adr^nnirer? \<rere empknred m see^ii^ m plaee §ar s e ttl em en t imlfl 
the 13th o: Msv. xrhen ther took possession of a penittsah, on the n«A 
si.ie of die lirer Powlatan. caBed by the em^nuats JantK iith-, abont 
ftrnr ndks from its moodi. Tonsdeioomfer thdrpngedtedtvvn, tbev 
ccmramced devrii^ airar the feresx, iriikh had for ce n uuies aflRadel 
dudtarand food todbenaiOTes. Tike membeis of dbeCoondl. while dicT 
adh«ed to their ««de9s m dte dfeoice of dieir Preadeat. on ihe most 6a- 
'vokvs pretences exdnded from m seat amoi^ ^hem die i n di r idu ai, wka 
was pcvtebhr of aB oA«ts thehe^ fitted <«r^ office* Caatain Sknxih, 
AoofhnemiBated VrdK same MEtramcat from whiAdwyd aiwd their 
andMritr. ffis svmenM- talentSs and ^ frone he had pKxiott^ acqoir- 
edinwar, e ntile d their witt. while possMy dicT indhaced him to assvmei 
'ttat a graAn- deJ»»ice was doe to his <^anon don his ton^oAMs were 
TnBii^ioadmiL At ks^di, however. hr die pradenteshoitatioKi^ of Ifir. 
ffamt. didr rha^am, Ae animasitxes wkich had arisen woe compo ue d, 
Saudi was admitted iMo dw Conadl, and dwT aft tuned their oBArided 
attention lo ^ gfOTonment of die colonT- tn homw of dnir mnuoR^ 
they csdWd dte town. Ae ere c t i o n of which dny now romwenred, Jamea- 
own. Thus was fenned d^ first pemHBeaft oaknT of the £a^^^ in 
Ajmeiitau 

TlieTidnityrf the settlemen t was a rastwi ldcmesss t h a ngh alBagtiant 
ane. inhaHtej hr a rare of Indian sarasi^ef^ poeses^B^ hodi &e riitnes and 
d^xkieispecvfiu to 4»r sSaxe. At £iss t!iej treaied the oehmists wi& 
laadnesg:lwtmfenndersmndiagu6amTarai««s<nn3Bs> ere long, inn.iiiipu.d 
ifte peace. and «nnnf«d^e|nce«dbissQi the BaeSsh. Norwasthehon- 
tffitT of d» natJTeg Ihe onhr oceasian of dibcomfew; &e extreme hettaf 
a a mau, and die uiiease void of dk? sanaeedin^ wiMh. whi? a£fce frridi 
ta the colankls. Fnm MaT » Sefcesdber. £ih- posonsdied, aonangf 
wkom w^ BardialiML^ ^GaenaM. > membcy of die CoMciL Tliesmre- 
hwKe at Jsrr>r?!r?«r:i arddnoly mkingr i«- di^ town, Aaftched wi& 
reeds, har 5nri& riolence. ^i die fonificaciMas, ans;, affarei!. 

W i dd i ns. i: : qnaatilT «f fai^aAe g a> dp and y w i ri a n , were csan- 



Tl^t^- -^'-f^; 5 r 5.*-iTalT led «&cm to nlm nfMi Arir i 

hmi: . .^\heir n^nsare to ^ni^ his penaeal talent 

and :- - "^ ^xeTJvrr. ayyeafed towidi dat reaardnadde- 

fcrer. dr^?^ sr» yielded nebr lo vesaed aaAoritr 

■ad: —^ tawrcoaattiile jcalensT ott Ak pan c^ 

ife n ia an nnfunTiHi d sMte. We. ly the 

niii: ^ --"t^ m d^nd them asaiKS ^ 

altoc Iv - .^vs and explare llie ce cj^ r * 

kei: -?w^deiness. bme^V 

titoSi: ^ ssafled widt mass. Ac 

ike r - "im as he reQxiref. 

SmE>-r ... fffBcnxen uom tnem 

a str " ---e. 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



lo: 



ing them on every occasion, whatever their snperioritj^ in numbers might 
be, compelled them to impart to him some portion of their winter stores. 
As the recompense of all his toils and dangers, he saw abundance and 
contentment re-established in the colony, and hoped that he should be 
able to maintain them in that happy state, until the arrival of ships from 
England in the spring. But in the midst of his energetic measures, while 
exploring the source of the river Chickahominy, he was surprised and at- 
tacked by a party of Indians. He defended himself bravely until his 
companions were killed, when he took to flight ; but running incautiously, 
he sunk up to his shoulders in a swamp and was taken prisoner. The 
exulting savages conducted him in triumph through several towns to 
Werowocomoco, where Powhatan, their King, resided in state, with a 
strong guard of Indians around him. Wlien the prisoner entered the 
apartment of tlie sovereign, all the people gave a shout. The queen of 
Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands ; and 
another person brought a hunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry 
them. Having feasted him in their best manner, and exhibited some of 




their Indian dances before him, they held a long consultation, at the con- 
clusion of which, two great stones were brought before Powhatan. Smith 
had now reason to consider his career as drawing to a close ; by the unit- 
ed efTorts of the attendants, he was forcibly dragged, his head laid upon 
one of the stones, and the mighty club upraised, a few blows from which 
were to terminate his existence. But a very unexpected interposition 
now took place. Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Powhatan, was 
seized with emotions of tender pity, and ran up to her father, pathetically 
pjeading for the life of the stranger, ^\^len all entreaties were lost on 
that stern and savage potentate, she hastened to Smith, snatched his head 
in her arms, and laid her own on his, declaring that the first blow must 
fall upon her. The heart even of a savage father was at last melted, 
and Powhatan granted to his favorite daughter the life of Smith. 

During his captivity among the Indians, Smith found many opportuni- 
ties of wimessing their peculiar manners and ceremoniea, and has described 



108 



.EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA 



them, in some respects, with much minuteness. Among other things, he 
describes the magical performances to which they had recourse, in order 
to ascertain whether Smith intended them good or evil ; for they were 
still greatly in awe of him. Early one morning, therefore, a great fire 
was made in a log-house, and a large mat spread on two opposite sides. 
They made Smith sit dowTi upon one ; and his guard, still consisting of 
some twenty or thirty stout Indians, then left the house. 

Presently a large grim looking savage came skipping and flourishing 
'n, like a wire-dancer. He was all painted over with coal, mingled with oil 




On this creature's head, to complete his attractions, was a large orna- 
mental bunch of snake and weasel skins, stuffed with moss, and their 
tails so tied together, as to meet on the crown of his head, like a tassel. 
The skins hung down about his face and shoulders, and a coronet of long 
feathers streamed round about from his tassel. This character now be- 
gan his invocation. He shouted like a fiend, with all possible gestures, 
postures, and grimaces. He carried a tremendous rattle m his hand, 
moreover, to complete the concert. This being over, three more people 
of the same description, painted half red and half black, came rushing in 
like the first, and performed nearly the same kind of dance ; but the eyes 
of the last three were painted white ; and some rough strokes of paint 
were daubed along their jaws, as an imitation of English mustachios and 
whiskers. These men having skipped and howled round about Smith till 
he was nearly stunned with their noise, retired into the ante-chamber, 
probably to refresh themselves. But the ceremony was not yet over. 
Three more now leaped into the room, not a whit less ugly than the oth- 
ers, with red eyes and white mustachios, painted upon faces as black as a 
kettle. At last, all the dancers seated themselves on the mat opposite to 
Smith — three on one side of the chief performer, and three on the oth- 
er. He soon commenced a song, accompanied with the noise of rattles. 
The chief man then laid down five grains of wheat, and commenced an 
oration, straining his arms and hands with such violence, that his veins 
swelled. At the conclusion of this performance, they all gave a short 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 109 

groan, by way of assent to what was said, and laid doAvr. three grams 
more. Smith was then entertained with another song and oration, tlie 
grain being laid down as before. All this continued till night, neither 
he nor they having a morsel of food. The Indians then feasted merrily 
upon all the provisions they could muster, giving Smith a good share of 
them. The ceremonies just described Avere repeated the two following 
days. Some maize meal which they strewed around him in circles, rep- 
resented their country, they said ; the wheat, the bounds of the sea ; and 
something else was used to signify the country of the whites. They gave 
Smith to understand, that the earth was flat and round, like a trencher, 
themselves being situated, they said, precisely in the middle. After this 
they showed him a bag of English gunpowder, which they hnd taken 
from some of his men. They said they were going to preserve it care- 
fully till the next spring, supposing it to be some new kind of grain which 
would yield them a harvest. 

After an absence of seven weeks. Smith arrived at the colony just in 
season to prevent its abandonment ; and it was with much difficulty that 
he could dissuade his companions from their determination to return to 
England. Pocahontas continued to display her partiality towards the 
whites, by furnishing the colony with supplies of provisions, till the arri- 
val of a vessel from the other side of the water. In the course of the 
year 1608, Smith made an exploring voyage up the Potomac. Here 
three or four thousand Indians, having a hint of his coming, lay in wait 
to kill him. They were frightened into peace, however, by a discharge 
of Smith's musketry, and even confessed that Powhatan had persuaded 
them to take up arms. 

At the mouth of the Rappahannock river, Smith saw a fish, called the 
stingray, lying among the reeds near the bank. He struck at the fish 
with his sword, and received a severe wound in the wrist from the thorn 
in the tail of the stingray. The pain produced by the wound was so 
violent, that Smith's life was for a time despaired of. But he recovered, 
returned to Jamestown, and was chosen President of the colony the same 
season. Smith made another voyage, of more than three thousand miles, 
along the coast and up the rivers, in August and September of this same 
year. He spent some time with the Susquehannock Indians, a tribe 
which knew nothing of Powhatan but his name. They had iron hatchets 
and other tools, which they had obtained from the French in Canada. 
These Indians are represented as giants in stature, the leg of one of them 
being three quarters of a yard round ; but there was probably some mis- 
take about this. 

In 1609, Smith went to see the Indians again, and Powhatan endea- 
vored to get possession of his person ; but his life was saved by Pocahon- 
tas, who came through the woods in the night, to his camp, and warned 
him of his danger. After this, Smith visited Opechancanough, the 
Indian King, at Pamunkey. They had agreed upon a place where they 
might meet to trade ; but when Smith came there, he was beset by seven 
hundred savages. He boldly seized Opechancanough by the hair, and 
led him, trembling, into the midst of his people. The latter laid down 
their arms, and ransomed their prisoner by a large present of corn to 



130 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA, 

Smith. He left them the next day. At another time, as Smith was 
straying alone in the woods, he was attacked by the King Paspahey, a 
giant savage. After a violent struggle, Smith succeeded in getting him 
to the ground, bound him, and carried him on his shoulders to Jamestown. 




Soon after this occurrence. Smith received a dangerous wound from 
an accidental explosion of some gunpowder, and was compelled to return 
to England for the purpose of obtaining medical assistance. " It was natu- 
ral," observes the historian, Grahame, " that he should abandon with regret 
the society he had so often preserved, the settlement he had conducted 
through difficulties as formidable as the infancy of Carthage or Eome had to 
encounter, and the scenes he had dignified by so much wisdom and virtue. 
But our sympathy with his regret is abated by the reflection, that a longer 
residence in the colony would speedily have consigned him to a very subor- 
dinate office, and might have deprived the world of that stock of valuable 
knowledge, and his own character of that accession of fame, which the 
publication of his travels has been the means of perpetuating." Unfor- 
tunately, Smith never returned to Virginia, and his loss, as might have 
been anticipated, was a most lamentable circumstance for the colony. At 
the end of six months from the time of his departure, sixty only of five 
hundred colonists remained alive. They were soon after so disheartened 
that they embarked on board their vessels, with all their stores, ami 
actually dropped down the James river as far as Mulberry island, with the 
intention of leaving the country forever. But, as they lay anchored at 
the island, a boat suddenly came in sight, which brought the news that 
Lord de la War was close at hand with an English fleet, and a supply 
of stores. With this fleet the colonists returned to Jamestown. 

Pocahontas afterwards married an Englishman, and went with her 
husband to his native country, where she was for several years an object 
of great curiosity and attention. She died at Gravesend, in 1616. The 
old King, Powhatan, died at a later period, at the age of nearly one hun- 
dred years. 

In the year 1622, ahout sixteen months after the landing of the pil- 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. Ill 

grims at Plymouth, Jamestown, and the smaller English settlements m Vir- 
ginia, were simultaneously threatened with a general massacre. This was 
on the 22d of March, the tribes round about having all been drawn together 
by Opechancanough, the brother of Powhatan. They had assembled 
from various parts of the country, marching secretly through the woods 
by night. The English were in perfect security, meanwhile, supposing 
the Indians to be friendly as es-er. Opechancanough was so artful as to 
send presents of venison and wild fowl to the English on the morning of 
the fatal day. " Sooner shall the sky fall," said this deceitful old sachem, 
"than the peace shall be violated on my part." 

But the terrible hour soon came. At mid-day the savages rushed out 
in immense numbers from the woods, all around the villages and houses 
of the whites, falling upon man, woman, and child, without mercy, mang- 
ling even the dead bodies of the murdered English, with the most fero- 
cious cruelty. In one hour, three hundred and forty-seven of the English 
were killed. So sudden was the attack, that the people hardly knew 
who were their enemies, or where they had come from. It was mere 
chance that saved the colony from entire ruin. A Christian Indian, 
named Chanco, lived with one Richard Pace, and was kindly treated by 
him and his family. The night before the massacre, a brother of Chanco 
came and slept with him, told him the whole Indian plot, and directed 
him to undertake the murder of his master the next day. Poor Chanco 
was shocked, and the moment his brother had gone, disclosed the scheme 
to his master. Notice was immediately given in all directions among the 
English ; and thus Jamestown and some other places were saved. The 
Indians were severely punished for this massacre within a few years, and 
never after gave the colony much trouble. 

After the massacre just related, nothing of great interest occurred in 
Virginia till the period of the revolutionary struggle. The settlements 
increased, village after village sprung up in the wilderness, and the colony 
became rich and powerful ; the Indians gradually retired to the interior, 
as the white people encroached upon their hunting grounds, and, after 
many years, there were only a few scattered remnants of the mighty 
tribes who once threatened to drive the English emigrants away from 
the country. 



NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The final and effectual settlement of Carolina originated with the Earl 
3f Clarendon, and other courtiers of Charles II. On their application 
for a charter, he granted them all the lands lying between the thirty-first 
and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude, to hold in absolute proprietor- 
ship, only reserving the sovereign dominion to the crown The first 
grant was made in 1663. A second and more definite charts rwas given 
to them in 1665, at which date there were two settlements within what is 
now North Carolina. The principal one was located a little north of Albe- 



1J2 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA 

marie sound. The other was a small colony, which had removed from Mas- 
sachusetts in 1660, and settled on what is now called Oldtown creek, near the 
south side of Clarendon river. They deserted their habitations in less than 
two years, and returned home, leaving many hogs and neat cattle m the 
hands of the Indians. The latter had quarrelled with them, and killed and 
stolen their cattle, for having sent off a few of their Indian children, to be 
educated in Massachusetts, as the colonists said, but as the Indians sus- 
pected, for the purpose of making them slaves. The loss of this colony 
was soon supplied by another of English planters from the island of 
Barbadoes. These planters, wishing to settle on the American continent, 
employed one Captain Hitten to explore the coast, in a small vessel, with 
a crew of fifteen or twenty men. He was ordered to be particular in 
examining the lands which the Massachusetts people had just left. 
In September, 1663, he landed within Cape Fear, and proceeded up 
Clarendon river with his boat, till his progress was stopped by floating 
logs. Soon after this, he purchased from the Indians a large tract of 
land, for which he paid them in kettles and beads. 

Proprietary governments have seldom been known to flourish. Seve- 
ral colonies were established in different parts of the country, and various 
regulations were made for their management ; and it is worthy of remark, 
that a Constitution of an aristocratic character, framed by the celebrated 
John Locke, was found to be entirely impracticable. In 1680, Charleston 
was founded, and emigration to Carolina from different parts of Europe 
became frequent ; but by the neglect and incapacity of the Governors, 
the affairs of the colony were often involved in confusion. 

The colonists of Carolina suflTered but little from the Indians, till about 
the year 1703. At that time Governor Daniel stipulated by the treaty 
with the Indian chiefs, that no rum should be sold to an Indian by any 
trader. The young Indians, however, complained of this, as a restraint 
upon their natural liberty. Some time afterwards, they demanded and 
obtained the usual supply of rum, unawed by the great havoc which 
strong drink had occasioned among the tribes. 

The Chowanoke Indians, who could bring three thousand boAvmen into 
the field in Smith's time, were now reduced to fifteen men, and lived in 
a single miserable village on Bennett's creek. The Mangoacks had 
equally diminished in strength, and the powerful Muatocks had wholly 
disappeared. Fifteen hundred volunteers, living on the north side of 
Albemarle sound, had assembled at Dasamonquipo, in 1585, for the mas- 
sacre of the English colony on Roanoke island ; but all the tribes to 
which these Indians belonged, were now reduced to forty-six fighting 
men. 

In fact, the Tuscaroras, who lived on the Neuse river, were now the 
only powerful tribe in North Carolina ; they could muster one thousand 
two hundred fighting men ; the Waccon Indians one hundred and twenty ; 
and about a dozen other tribes together might muster half as many more. 
These Indians had observed, with natural indignation, the encroach- 
ments of the whites upon the reserved squares of the various tribes. 
Their temper was soured, to<*, by the frequent impositions of fraudulent 
traders. 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



113 



The first white man who fell a sacrifice to their jealousy, was one John 
Lawson, well known among them as Surveyor-General of the province 
of North Carolina. He had marked off some of their lands, and among 
the rest, a tract of five thousand acres, and another of ten thousand, had 
been lately surveyed for Graffenried. Soon after this, Lawson and Graf- 
fenried, together, undertook to explore the waters of the Neuse. They 
took a small boat at Newbern, and ascended the river. In the evening 
of the first day, they stopped at Coram, an Indian village, where they in- 
tended to lodge. Here they met two Tuskaroras, though Lawson had 
assured Graffenried, that the banks were uninhabited. These two were 
soon after joined by a great number more, well armed. The Baron now 
grew uneasy. He whispered to Lawson, that they had better proceed up 
the river. Lawson assented, not liking the looks of the Indians himself; 
and they began to move off" from the fire they had made, towards the 
river. They had no sooner reached their boats, however, than such a 
press of the savages followed close after them, that it became impossible 
to keep them off. They took the arms and provisions of the two travel 




.ers, and then stripped them of every thing else. The Indians afterwards 
compelled them to accompany them to an Indian village, at a considerable 
distance from the river. There the two captives were delivered to the 
sachem of the village, who immediately called a council, at which one of 
the Indians delivered a long and violent speech. The question was then 
put, whether the whites should be bound : this was decided in the nega- 
tive. The reason given was, that the guilty should always have an 
opportunity to defend and explain their conduct. 

The next morning, the captives, anxious as to their fate, desired to 
know what the Indians intended to do with them. They were told, that 
the sachem would that evening invite a number of neighboring sachems 
to an entertainment, who would also assist in the trial, and the decision 
of the prisoners' fate. In the evening, accordingly, upwards of two hun- 
dred Indians collected, forty of whom were chiefs or leading men. By 
these forty, the prisoners were interrogated very closely, as to their 



'14 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

intention in ascending t}ie river. The latter replied, that they were 
endeavoring to find and lay out some shorter and better road to Virginia 
than the present one travelled by the Carolina settlers. Such a road, they 
said, would accommodate the Indians as much as the English. 

The sachems were still dissatisfied. They complained much of the 
conduct of the Carolina colonies towards them, and charged Lawson, in 
particular, with having stolen their land. The result of this unfortunate 
affair was the execution of Lawson, and the detention of Graffenried. 

Fears of punishment for this outrage led to still further cruelties on 
the part of the Indians. A plan of general massacre was laid, and car- 
ried into too successful execution. About Roanoke, one hundred and 
thirty-seven of the whites were slain in a single evening. The Indian 
force amounted to twelve hundred bowmen, dispersed in small bands 
through the settlements. North Carolina did not contain two thousand 
fighting men in all, at this time. An express, therefore, had been imme- 
diately dispatched to the southern province for assistance. 

Governor Craven lost no time in sending a force, as requested. The 
Charleston Assembly voted four thousand pounds for the service of the 
war; and a body of militia, under Colonel Barnwell, marched against 
the savages. Directly after, were sent two hundred and eighteen friendly 
Cherokee Indians, seventy-nine Creeks, forty-one Catabaws, and twenty- 
eight Yamassees, well furnished with arms, and commanded by five 
Carolinian captains. In this expedition, nearly one thousand of the enemy 
were slain But'the savages still continued to cause great alarm, and 
the settlers on the Neuse and Pamlico rivers were almost ruined by their 
incursions. 

In 1719, South Carolina ceased to be governed by the Proprietors, and 
became a royal province, subject, like Massachusetts and most of the 
other colonies, only to the King, through the Governor by him appointed. 
Carolina Avas divided into Northern and Southern about the same time. 
This revolution was effected by the people, taking their own cause into 
their own hands. They were dissatisfied with the Proprietors, and abjur- 
ed their authority. The King afterwards sanctioned their doings, and 
declared the rights of the Proprietors forfeited. In 1715, South Carolina 
was devastated by an Indian war. Even in the large and fortified town of 
Charleston, they excited great apprehensions. Martial law was proclaimed 
thereby the Governor, and all vessels were forbidden to leave the harbor. 
Agents were dispatched to Virginia and to England for assistance, and 
bills stamped for the payment of the troops, within a few days. Governor 
Craven marched out into the back country, at the head of the militia, 
against the largest body of savages. 

Meanwhile, the more northern Indians had advanced to within fifty 
miles from Charleston. Thomas Barker, a militia captain, collected ninety 
horsemen, and advanced against the enemy. But he was led, unfortu- 
nately, by the treachery of an Indian guide, into an ambuscade, where a 
large party of savages lay concealed on the ground. He advanced into 
the midst of them without suspecting his danger. They then suddenly 
sprang up from the bushes all around him, raised the war whocp, and 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA 



115 



fired upon his men. The captain and several more of the whites fell at 
the first onset, and the remainder retreated in disorder. In this war four 




hundred Carolinians were massacred, and the loss of the Indians was 
very considerable. 

Georgia — as well as what are now Mississippi and Alabama, both 
which have been cut off from it into separate States — was included in the 
patent granted to the Proprietors of Carolina. It was not till June 9, 
1732, indeed, that a separate charter was granted by King George II. to 
a company of twenty-one English gentleman, entitled " Trustees for 
establishing the colony of Georgia in America." 

James Edward Oglethorpe, one of the trustees, was among the emi- 
grants. So also was Mr. Herbert, an Episcopal English clergyman, and 
an Italian, engaged by the trustees to instruct the colonists in the art of 




grinding silk. They left England, November 16, 1732, in the ship Anne, 
Captain Thomas, and arrived at Charleston, January 13th of the next 



116 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

year. There Oglethorpe and his colony were very kindly treated, and 
furnished with all possible aid. Many of the Carolinians sent them 
provisions, and hogs, and cattle, to begin their stock. The Assembly 
voted to furnish them one hundred and four head of breeding cattle, 
twenty-five hogs, and twenty barrels of rice. Some scout boats were 
also ordered, with a body of rangers, to protect the new adventurers from 
the savages in Georgia, while they should be preparing houses, or explor- 
ing the Georgian coast. 

Oglethorpe now set sail again from Charleston, and landed, in a few 
days, near Yamacraw bluff. Here he tarried to examine the country ; 
and, being pleased with the high spot of ground just named, situated on 
a large navigable river, he fixed on it for his new settlement. He mai'ked 
out a town on the hill, and, from the Indian name of the river which 
ran past it, called it Savannah. 

The company for the settlement of Georgia was incorporated by George 
n. for exporting to this part of America, free of expense, families laboring 
under the hardships of poverty. The design was laudable, but the exe- 
cution of the project was not well managed. Impolitic restrictions laid 
upon the colonists, produced a languor from which their affairs never 
recovered while they continued to be proprietary. In 1752, the charter 
was surrendered to the King, and the government modelled according to 
that of the other colonies.* 

♦Virginia, and North and South Carolina, engaged at an early period in the war 
of the Revolution ; Georgia did not join the confederation till the year 1775. 

Virginia was originally much more extensive than it is at present. It included 
what now constitutes the State of Ker.ti.cliy ; this became a separate district in 1786, 
and in 1792 was admitled as one of ttie United States. 

Tennessee was a part of the two Carolinas until 1729 ; these colonies then being 
divided into Norih and South Carolina, Tennessee was attached to the former; in 
1789, i ; was ceded to the United States, and in 1796 became an independent State 



117 



SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHERN STATES. 



Queen Mary the Catholic ascended the throne of England in 1553, 
and in less than six years, two hundred and seventy persons were 
burned, and more than twelve thousand Protestant or Puritan clergy- 
men were driven from their pulpits. The persecuted religion, however, 
still found thousands to profess it ; for there never was a creed or faith 
vvhich has not flourished from being trampled on. A congregation of 
two hundred persons were in the habit of holding their meetings in the 
very heart of London. These assemblies were held in secret, and 
under the cover of night. No secresy, however, could elude the vigi- 
lance of the Catholics, and the meeting was discovered. The house in 
which it was held, overhung the Thames, and it was watched only on 
the land side. This circumstance saved the congregation. A seaman 
belonging to it discovered the danger, leaped into the river, and procure*! 




a boat, in which the Puritans were in a few hours conveyed to a place 
of safety. 

When the spirited and absolute Elizabeth succeeded to the crown, she 
persecuted vast numbers for refusing to conform to the ceremonies of the 
English church. In 1602, a large company of those who refused to 
obey these rites, determined to leave England, for the Netherlands. 
They assembled, for this purpose, at a place near Boston, the capita] of 
Lincolnshire, and a seaport. Their intended enterprize was discovered, 
and prevented by the interposition of public authority. In the following 



US EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA- 

year, a number of them resolved upon a second trial, and agreed with a 
Dulcli captain to carry them to Holland. After various accidents, they 
reached the place of their destination, and after remaining a year at Am- 
sterdam, they removed to Leyden. Here they remained twelve years, 
when they procured a patent for land of the Virginia company m 
England, and on the 5th of August, 1620, set sail for the Nev/ World. 
They intended to settle at the mouth of the river Hudson, but as was 
supposed, through the connivance of the captain, they were earned much 
further north, and on the 11th of November, anchored in the harbor of 
Cape Cod. The very day they landed, an armed party was sent to 
make discoveries. They returned at night, having found iK)thing but 
water, woods, and sand hills. The next day was the Sabbath, and they 
all rested. On Monday, the men went on shore to refresh themselves ; 
the women to wash, attended by a guard ; and the carpenter began to 
repair the shallop for the purpose of coasting. On Wednesday, Captain 
Miles Standish took a party of sixteen men, well armed, and went to 
make further discoveries. About a mile from the sea, they saw five In- 
dians who fled. They pursued them ten miles ; but, night coming on, 
they stationed sentinels, kindled a fire, and rested quietly around it. 

On Wednesday, the 6th of December, the pilgrims sent out a fourth 
expedition. The ground was now covered with snow ; and the cold 
wind froze the salt water on the clothes of the men, like coats of mail. 
Having landed, they made a fire, and slept in the woods the first night. 
The next day, they discovered an Indian burying-yard, surrounded by 
palisadoes. Many of the graves were staked around with a circle of 
wood. At five in the morning of the next day, there was a cry of " In- 
dians ! Indians !" by the guard they had set, and a shower of arrows fell 




in among them, followed by horrible yells. But the noise of the Eng- 
lish guns was still more terrible to the savages. They thought the re- 
port a sort of thunder and lightning, and fled in great fear. Their ar- 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 119 

tows were kept, by the white men, as curiosities. They Avere pointed 
with deers' horn and eagles' claws. 

On the 22d of December, the whole party of the pilgrims landed at 
tke place afterwards called Plymouth, and having determined to nlant a 
settlement there, began to cut timber for building. The rock on which 
they first stepped in landing, still exists, and strangers from all quarters 
visit it, as they pass through the town. When they left England, the 
whole number of the emigrants was one hundred and one. When the 
spring came, forty-six were dead. All these had died from the various 
hardships to which they had been exposed. But by the 3d of March, 
those who remained rejoiced to find that the winter was past. There were 
now warm showers ihe spring having set in earlier than usual. The 
settlers had laid out the town into streets and lots, and erected buildings 
of considerable size. They deposited their provisions and ammunition 
in a storehouse, with a thatched roof. Though this was constantly 
guarded, the roof took fire during the winter ; but the lower part of the 
building, with its contents, was saved. They could scarcely have pre- 
served life, had their stores been consumed. 

The English soon formed an acquaintance with Massassoit, a power- 
ful Indian chieftain, and entered into a treaty of peace, which was pre- 
served by him and his successors for fifty years. Through his influence, 
nine of the petty sachems, or Indian chiefs, in his neighborhood, who 
had been jealous of the English, came to Plymouth, and subscribed a 
treaty of submission to the King of England. Others, from the island 
Capawoc, since called Martha's Vineyard, sent messengers for the same 
purpose. 

In September, 1621, a shallop, with ten men, was sent to explore 
Massachusetts Bay, in which they found numerous fertile and beautiful 



islands, mostly cleared of wood. The Indians seemed to lead a verv 
happy life here, and it was a subject of regret to the settlers, at Plymouth, 



120 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

that this vicinity had not been selected for the site of the new col- 
ony. 

In November, 1621, a ship, with thirty-five passengers, arrived from 
England. Unfortunately she was out of provisions, and the- colonists 
were obliged to victual her home. They were without bread in conse- 
cuence, for two months of the winter. 

The summer of 1622 being dry, the harvest was scanty, and the colo- 
nists were compelled to procure a supply from the Indians. Governor 
Bradford travelled among the tribes for this purpose, and obtained twen- 
ty-eight hogsheads of corn, which he paid for in knives, blankets, beads, 




and other things of that kind. Squanto, a friendly Indian, who guided 
him upon this route, fell sick and died. He asked the Governor, on his 
death-bed, to pray for him, " that he might go to the Englishman's hea- 
ven." This Indian was of great service to the colony, but was a fellow 
of great cunning and deceit. He sometimes sent word to a tribe, secret- 
ly, that the English were coming to kill them, assuring them, at the same 
time, that he could obtain peace for them, and he only. The tribe would 
send him presents, accordingly, to procure peace, when, in fact, no war 
had been thought of They considered him a very great man, supposing 
that he prevented the war. He now and then frightened them by telling 
rather large stories about the English gunpowder. He told them, also, 
that the colonists kept the plague barrelled up in a cellar under the 
Plymouth meeting-house, ready to send among the Indian tribes, when- 
ever they wished to destroy them. It is probable that these dishone.sl 
accounts had some effect in keeping the Indians peaceable. 

The aborigines of this part of the continent lived together in tribes of 
a few hundreds, and sometimes a few thousands, procuring their subsist 
ence chiefly by hunting and fishing. Flesh and fish they roasted on a stick 
or broiled on the fire. Sometimes they boiled their meat and corn by put 
ting hot stones into water ; but the latter was usually parched. Thcv 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA- 121 

also raised peas, beans, and pumpkins. There was generally a sort of 
rude garden near each wigwam, with a small cornfield. The women 
cultivated the land ; they used large oyster and other shells for hoes, till 
the whites supplied them with iron ones. They performed all the 




drudgery about the house. The men were usually abroad, engaged in 
hunting, fishing, or fighting ; when at home, they lounged lazily about 
the wigwams. In fishing, they used crooked bones for hooks, and made 
nets of the bark of the Indian hemp, or of the sinews of the moose and 
deer. Those who lived along the coast were skilful fishermen, and 
caught great numbers of seal. 

It does not come within our plan to give any detailed narrative of the 
events of the Indian wars. The most formidable of these was that 
known as King Philip's War. The capture of Fort Mystic from the 
Pequots at the mouth of Mystic river, near the present site of Stonington, 
was an achievement of some note on the part of the settlers. Ninety 
men were mustered for this purpose in Connecticut, and placed under the 
command of Captain Mason of Massachusetts; these were joined by a 
large party of friendly Indians, and the whole body entered the Pequot 
territory, and commenced their march towards the fort. 

The number of the Indian allies was near five hundred. They march- 
ed in one body before the English force, and were constantly boasting 
how gallantly they should fight. But when Captain Mason informed 
them he was resolved to attack the Pequots in their fort, they were hor- 
ror-struck, and quite a number of the Narragansetts took the liberty to 
return home. Mason, however, marched on through the wilderness, till 
he came to a small swamp between two hills, just at dusk. The camp 
was pitched, that night, near two large rocks in Groton, since called Por- 
ter's rocks. The soldiers were tired, and slept soundly on the ground, 
with stones for their pillows. Guards were kept watching in advance, 
who could hear the Pequots at the fort, yelling and singing, and making 



122 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

merry, till midnight. They were rejoicing because the EnglitOi vessels 
had passed down the river some days before, and they supposed they 
had gone away. 

About two hours before day, the Captain roused his Indians, and the 
eighty brave white men, who were with him, and marched on a mile or 
two, to the foot of a large hill. The moon shone brightly, and he per- 
ceived, as he halted here, that his Indians, who had been in the habit 
of marching a long way in front, were now lingering far in the rear. 
He sent a messenger back to Uncas, to ask where the fort was. He 
answered, on the top of the hill. He was asked what was the matter 
with the Indians? and he replied, that they were horribly frightened. 
" Sassacus," they said, " was in the fort ; and he was all one devil ; 
nobody could kill him." Mason now told the Indians to surround the 
fort as far off as they pleased, and look at the English, during the battle. 
They agreed to this arrangement, and posted themselves in a circle 
around the fort, at about twenty rods distance. 

The day was now dawning, and the fort was still perfectly silent. 
The English had come within a rod or two of it, when an Indian dog 
barked, and a Pequot roared out, " Owannux ! Owannux !" " The En- 



glish." The English pressed on, fired upon the Indians through the 
palisadoes, as they sprang up from sleep, and then entered the principal 
door of the fort, sword in hand. The flashing and roar of arms, the 
shrieks and yells of the men, women, and children within, and the 
shouting of the circle of Narragansetts without, were tremendous. The 
Pequots fought well ; but they were driven, at last, to shelter themselves 
in their wigwams, inclosed within the walls of the fort, Avhere, from 
every window and door, they made a most obstinate defence. Captain 
Mason now cried out, " We must burn them !" He entered a wigwam, 
and fired the mats of the roof with a brand. The flames ran from roof 
to roof, till every wigwam was blazing. The English now left the fort, 
and compassed it about on all sides ; their Indian allifs plucking 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 123 

up courage, and forming a line behind them. These did little exec'i- 
tion, to be sure, except to frighten the Pequots with thex horrible war- 
whoop. 

The enemy Avere panic-struck. The flames forced them from their 
hiding-places into the open light ; and the English, from without, shot 
them down like a herd of deer. Some climbed the palisadoes, but there 
they were pierced by the English bullets. Some sallied out in despera- 
tion, and were cut down ; others waited for the English in their burning 
wigwams. When they found that the women were spared, many o? 
them cried out, "I squaw, I squaw;" but it could not save them. Six 
or seven hundred of them were slaughtered. 



Several adventurers from England settled in the countries of Maine 
and New-Hampshire ; these remained, for some time, separate govern- 
ments, but were afterwards united to that of Massachusetts. By Wil- 
liam III. Plymouth and Maine were annexed to Massachusetts ; but 
New-Hampshire was made a distinct government dependent on the 
crown. 

The dangers to which the Colonies of New-England were subjected 
by attacks from the Indians, and the difficulties attending an effectual co- 
operation while in a separate state, became early visible ; and a confe- 
deration had been projected prior to 1638. This important confederation, 
however, was not completely arranged and digested till 1643. It was 
then agreed, that a Congress should be formed, of two Commissioners 
from each colony, chosen annually, to be called " the Representatives of 
the United Colonies of New-England.'" Rhode Island was desirous of 
being admitted to the Union ; but was not then received. From this 
period, the New-England States may be considered as forming one po- 
litical body. Hudson's river was first discovered by Henry Hudson, an 
Englishman, from whom the Dutch purchased the right of establishing a 
colony on its banks. Attempts were soon made to settle upon it ; and in 
1615, a fort was built, and a small number of inhabitants fixed on the 
south-west point of Manhattan's Island, now the site of New-York. In 
1664, it was seized by the English ; and, at the peace of Breda, in 1667, 
they were confirmed in the possession of it in return for Surinam, which 
they ceded to the Dutch, This fort, and consequently the whole colony, 
fell again into the hands of the Dutch in 1678, through the treachery of 
its Governor ; but, in the year following, it was restored to the English, 
who retained it till the revolution. 

New Jersey, like New-York, was first settled by the Dutch, who plant- 
ed a colony in the county of Bergen, between the years 1614 and 1620. 
A few Swedes and Finns joined them in 1627 ; and, though the Dutch 
and Swedes were often at variance, they kept joint possession of the 
country for a considerable time. Charles II. in 1634, granted the whole 
territory called by the Dutch, New Netherlands, and of which New Jer- 
sey formed a part, to the Duke of York his brother, who, id 1664, grant- 
ed New Jersey to Lord Berkley, and Sir George Carteret. The colony 



124 EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

was in 1672 reduced by the Dutch ; but, in 1674, it was restored to the 
English. In the same year, the Duke of York received a new patent 
for the same country, and again divided it between the assigns of Lord 
Berkley, and Sir George Carteret. The government of New Jersey 
continued to be proprietary, till it was divided into portions so small, and 
the number of proprietors had become so great, that the functions of go- 
vernment were continually impeded. The Proprietors, influenced by 
this and other inconveniences, at last, in 1702, surrendered their au- 
thority to the British Government, in consequence of which New Jersey 
continued till the revolution to be a Royal Government. 

The history of the colony of Pennsylvania consists not, like that of 
many others, of a detail of religious dissensions ; for such dissensions 
were prevented by a universal toleration in religion, from the first com- 
mencement ni' the settlement. Pennsylvania continued a proprietary 
government till the revolution. William Penn, a celebrated Quaker, in 
re urn for his father's services to the crown, and a large sum due ^ruin 
the crown to himself, obtained, in 1681, a grant of the country which 
from his own name, was called Pennsylvania. In 1682, a settlement 
wi s made, and a form of government established. In the year following. 
Penn prevailed on the colonists to accept a form of government different 
from that which had been first adopted. Penn's presence in England be- 
coming necessary, on account of a dispute with Lord Baltimore, concern- 
ing the bounds of their respective American possessions, he delegated 
the powers of government, in his absence, to five Commissioners. In a 
short time, the Proprietary superseded his five Commissioners, and sent 
deputies to govern in his name. While Markham was Governor, in 
1696, another change in the administration was effected. Penn, once 
more, visited the colony in 1699, and during his stay the political in- 
stitutions were for the last time revised, and that frame of government 
established Avhich remained unaltered till the revolution. The Pennsyl- 
vanians, at an early period began to show that they both understood and 
valued freedom ; and in spite of the efforts of deputies, instigated by the 
arbitrary disposition of Proprietaries, they maintained that freedom, and 
preserved the charter of privileges which they had originally maintained. 
It deserves to be specially recorded, that the Pennsylvanians always 
treated the Indians in a kind and just manner. They purchased from 
them the lands which they occupied, with what the Indians accounted 
equivalent, and observed with punctuality the articles of every truce ; 
and thus won from the natives that esteem and good-will which proved 
the best preservative of the peace and safety of the settlement. 

The Dutch, in consequence of the purchase of the basks of Hudson's 
River, imagined that they had acquired some right to all the unsettled 
countries in their neighborhood. They accordingly, in 1623, planted a 
colony on the river Delaicare. This colony was, in a short time, sup- 
planted by one from Sweden ; and the country was alternately possessed 
by the Swedes and Dutch, till, at length, both parties were subjected to 
the English. In 1674, Charles II. granted this district, as forming a 
part of the Dutch New Netherlands, to his brother the Duke of York, 
who, in 1683, sold it to Penn ; from that time till the revolution it made 



EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA. 125 

part of Pennsylvania. The Assemblies were different, but the same 
Governor presided in both. 

Many of the States of North America owe their first settlement to re- 
ligious disputes. We have seen how the persecution of the Puritans 
peopled the States of New-England ; and Maryland, we are informed, 
owed its first settlement to a persecution little less severe, which, in 
Britain, was carried on against the Roman Catholics. About two hun- 
dred gentlemen of fortune and considerable respectability, with their fol- 
lowers, embarked for Maryland, hoping to enjoy that peace and that 
liberty of conscience, which their native country did not afford them. 
This colony arrived in Maryland in 1633, and Leonard Calvert, brother 
to Lord Baltimore, was appointed the first Governor. Lands were pur- 
chased of the Indians ; and, in a short time, the colony had increased in 
numbers and in importance. In 1638, the first Assembly was appointed. 
The grand Convention of England, in 1689, took the government from 
Lord Baltimore, and made it a Royal Government ; and the dread of 
Popery, which had so much influence in producing the revolution in 
Britain, procured, in 1692, the establishment of the Protestant religion in 
Maryland. Lord Baltimore, however, recovered the property of this 
government in 1716; and retained it till the American revolution, 
during which his property in lands was confiscated. The petition of his 
heir, at the close of the war, for the recovery of his right, was rejected by 
the Legislature of this State. 



127 



THE FRENCH WARS. 



Being in possession of the inland seas of Canada, as they are justly 
Wfmed, and of the mouths of the grand receiver of most of the principal 
rivers of North America, the French conceived the bold idea of uniting their 
northern and southern possessions by a chain of forts along the banks of 
the Ohio and Mississippi ; and by that means also to confine the English 
colonists to the eastern side of the Alleghanies. In their northern colo- 
nies their military strength was considerable ; Quebec and Montreal 
were strongly fortified; and at other points, Louisburg, Cape Breton, and 
the forts of Lake Champlain, Niagara, Crown Point, Frontignac, Ticon- 
deroga, and several others, defended the frontiers. They had also erected 
a considerable fort at the junction of the Alleghany with the Mononga- 
hela, then called Du Quesne, but now forming the site of Pittsburg, the 
Birmingham of America. 

Early in the spring of 1755, the British government dispatched Gen- 
eral Braddock to America, with a respectable force to expel the French, 
and keep possession of the territory ; and preparations having been 
made by France to dispatch a reinforcement to her armies in Canada, Ad- 
miral Boscawen was ordered to endeavor to intercept the French fleet be- 
fore it should enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In April, General 
Braddock met the Governors of the several provinces to confer upon 
the plan of the ensuing campaign. Three expeditions were resolved upon ; 
one against Du Quesne, to be commanded by General Braddock ; one 
against forts Niagera and Frontignac, to be commanded by Governor Shir- 
ley ; and one against Crown Point, to be commanded by General Johnson 
This last originated with Massachusetts, and was to be executed by colo- 
nial troops raised in New England and New York. 

While preparations were making for these expeditions, another, which 
had been previously concerted, was carried on against the French forts 
in Nova Scotia. This province was settled by the French, but was 
ceded to the English by the treaty of Utrecht. Its boundaries not having 
Deen defined, the French continued to occupy a portion of the territory 
claimed by the English, and had built forts for their defence. To gain 
possession of these was the object of the expedition. About two thou- 
sand militia, commanded by Colonel Winslow, embarked at Boston ; and 
being joined on their passage by three hundred regulars, arrived in April 
at the place of their destination. The forts were invested, the resistance 
made was trifling and ineffectual, and in a short time the English gained 
entire possession of the province, according to their own definition of its 
boundaries. Three only of their men were killed. 



128 THE FRENCH WARS. 

Of the unfortunate issue of Braddock's expedition we have already given 
an account. The two northern expeditions, though not so disastrous, 
did not either of them succeed in attaining the object proposed. In that 
against Crown Point much delay was occasioned by the distracted coun- 
cils of so many different governments ; and it was not till the last of 
August, that General Johnson, with three thousand seven hundred men, 
arrived at the fort of Lake George, on his way to Ticonderoga. Mean- 
while the French squadron had eluded Admiral Boscawen ; and, as soon 
as it arrived at Quebec, Baron Dieskau, the commander, resolved to march 
against Oswego with his own twelve hundred regulars, and about six 
hundred Canadians ^nd Indians. The news of General Johnson's move- 
ment deternnned Dieskau to change his plan, and to lead his forces 
directly agamst the American camp. General Johnson called for rein- 
forcements : eight hundred troops, raised as a corps of reserve by Massa- 
chusetts, were immediately ordered to his assistance ; and the same colony 
undertook to raise an additional number of two thousand men. Colonel 
Williams was sent forward with one thousand men to amuse and reconnoi- 
tre the enemy. He met them four miles from the camp, offered battle, and 
was defeated. Another detachment shared the same fate ; and the French 
were now within one hundred and fifty yards of the camp, when a halt 
for a short time enabled the Americans to recover their alarm, and to 
make good use of their artillery through the fallen trees, behind which 
they were posted. Dieskau advanced to the charge ; but he was so 
firmly received, that the Indians and militia gave way and fled : he was 
obliged to order a retreat of the regulars ; and, in the ardent pursuit 
which ensued, he was himself mortally wounded and made prisoner. A 
scouting party had, in the meantime, taken the enemy's baggage ; and 
when the retreating army came up, they attacked it so successfully from 
behind the trees, that the panic-struck soldiers dropped all their accoutre- 
ments, and fled in the utmost confusion for their posts on the lakes. 
This victory revived the spirits of the colonists, depressed by the recent 
defeat of General Braddock, but the success was not improved in any 
proportion to their expectation. General Shirley, now the commander 
in chief, urged an attempt on Ticonderoga ; but a council of war judging 
it unadvisable, Johnson employed the remainder of the campaign in forti- 
fying his camp. On a meeting of Commissioners from Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut with the Governor and Council of New York, in 
October, it was unanimously agreed, that the army under General John- 
son should be discharged, excepting six hundred men, who should be 
engaged to garrison Fort Edward and Fort William Henry. The French 
retained possession of Ticonderoga and fortified it. 

General Shirley, who was to conduct the expedition against Niagara 
and Fort Frontignac, experienced such delays, that he did not reach 
Oswego until the 21st of August. On his arrival, he made all necessary 
preparations for the expedition to Niagara ; but, through the desertion of 
batteaux men, the scarcity of wagons on the Mohawk river, and the 
desertion of sledgemen at the great carrying place, the conveyance of 
provisions and stores was so much retarded, that nearly four weeks 
elapsed before he could commence any further operations ; and firom a 



THE FRENCH WARS. 129 

continued succession of adverse circumstances, in a council of war called 
on the 27th of September, it was unanimously resolved to defer the ex- 
pedition to the succeeding year ; to leave Colonel Mercer at Oswego, 
with a garrison of seven hundred men, and to build two additional forts 
for the security of the place ; while the General should return with the 
rest of the army to Albany. Thus ended the campaign of 1755 : it 
opened with the brightest prospects ; immense preparations had been 
made, yet not one of the objects of the three principal expeditions had 
been attained ; and by this failure the whole frontier was exposed to the 
ravages of the Indians, which were accompanied by their usual acts 
of barbarity. 

The colonies, however, far from being discouraged by the misfortunes 
of the last campaign, determined to renew and increase their exertions. 
General Shirley, to whom the superintendence of all the military opera- 
tions had been confided, assembled a council of war at New York to 
concert a plan for the ensuing year. The plan adopted by the council 
embraced expeditions against Du Quesne, Niagara, and Crown Point, 
and the dispatching a body of troops by way of the rivers Kennebeck 
and Chaudiere, to create alarm for the safety of Quebec. Major-General 
Winslow was appointed to lead the expedition against Crown Point. He 
was a popular officer, and the colonists felt a deep interest in the expedi- 
tion ; but, for want of an established financial system, (their only taxes 
were upon lands and polls,) the requisite funds were raised with difficulty, 
and the recruiting service made very slow progress. Only seven thousand 
men assembled at the posts on Lake George. General Winslow declared, 
that, without more forces, he could not undertake the expedition ; and it 
would probably have been abandoned, had he not been reinforced by the 
timely arrival of some British troops. They came over with General 
Abercrombie, who had superseded General Shirley, and who soon after 
gave place to the Earl of Loudoun. These changes produced some 
unpleasant contests for priority of rank. General Winslow asserted 
frankly, that the provincials would never be commanded by British 
officers ; and the Earl of Loudoun seriously propounded the question, 
whether the colonial troops, with his Majesty's arms in their hands, would 
refuse obedience to his Majesty's commanders ? He was answered in 
the affirmative ; and when he understood that the New England troops, 
in particular, had enlisted under the condition of being led by their ovsm 
officers, he agreed to let those troops act separately. 

While the English were adjusting these differences, and debating 
whether it would be expedient to attack Fort Niagara, or Fort Du Quesne 
Montcalm, the successor of Dieskau, marched against Oswego with abou 
five thousand French, Canadians, and Indians. His artillery played with 
such effect upon the fort, that it was soon declared untenable ; and to 
avoid an assault, the garrison, who were sixteen hundred in number, and 
had stores for five months, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. 
The fort had been an object of considerable jealousy to the Five Nations ; 
and Montcalm made a wise use of his conquest by demolishing it in their 
presence. The English and American army was now thrown upon the 
defensive Instead of attacking Ticonderoga, General Winslow was 



130 THE FRENCH WAES. 

ordered to forttfy his own camp ; Major-General Webb, with fourteen 
hundred regulars, took post near Wood Creek ; and Sir William Johnson, 
with one thousand militia, was stationed at the German Flats. The 
colonists were now called upon for reinforcements ; and, as Parliament 
nad distributed among them one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds 
for the last year's expenses, they were enabled to answer the call with 
perhaps more promptitude than was anticipated. The recruits were 
on their way to the camp, when intelligence of the small-pox at Albany 
frightened them home again. The other provincials were equally alarm- 
ed ; and all, except a New York regiment, were dismissed. Thus 
terminated the second campaign. The expedition up the Kennebeck had 
been abandoned ; that against Niagara was not commenced ; and not 
even a preparation had been made for that against Du Quesne. 

At the commencement of the following year, a council was held at 
Boston, composed of Lord Loudoun, and the Governors of the New 
England provinces and of Nova Scotia. At this council his Lordship 
proposed that New England should raise four thousand men for the 
ensuing campaign ; and that a proportionate number should be raised by 
New York and New Jersey. These requisitions were complied with ; 
and in the spring his Lordship found himself at the head of a very con- 
siderable army. Admiral Holbourn arriving in the beginning of July at 
Halifax with a powerful squadron, and a reinforcement of five thousand 
British troops, under George Viscount Howe, Lord Loudoun sailed from 
New York with six thousand regulars, to join those troops at the place 
of their arrival. Instead of the complex operations undertaken in pre- 
vious campaigns, his Lordship limited his plan to a single object. Leav- 
ing the posts on the lakes strongly garrisoned, he resolved to direct his 
whole disposable force against Louisburg ; Halifax having been deter- 
mined on as the place of rendezvous for the fleet and army destined for 
the expedition. Information was, however, soon received, that a French 
fleet had lately sailed from Brest ; that Louisburg was garrisoned by 
six thousand regulars, exclusive of provincials; and that it was also 
defended by seventeen line of battle ships, which were moored in the 
harbor. There being no hope of success against so formidable a force, 
the enterprise was deferred to the next year ; the General and Admi- 
ral on the last of August proceeded to New York ; and the provincials 
were dismissed. 

The Marquis De Montcalm, availing himself of the absence of the 
principal part of the British force, advanced with an army of nine thou- 
sand men, and laid siege to Fort William Henry. The garrison at this 
fort consisted of between two and three thousand regulars, and its forti- 
fications were strong and in very good order ; and for the additional 
security of this important post. General Webb was stationed at Fort 
Edward with an army of four thousand men. The French commander, 
however, urged his approaches with such vigor, that, within six days 
after the investment of the fort, Colonel Monro, the commandant, having- 
in vain solicited succor from General Webb, found it necessary to surren- 
der by capitulation. The garrison was to be allowed the honors of war, 
and to be protectsd against the Indians until within the reach of Fort 



THE FRENCH WARS. 131 

Edward ; but the next morning, a great number of Indians having beep 
permitted to enter the lines, began to plunder ; and meeting with no 
opposition, they fell upon the sick and wounded, whom they immediately 
massacred. Their appetite for carnage being excited, the defenceless 
troops were attacked with fiend-like fury. Monro in vain implored 
Montcalm to provide the stipulated guard, and the massacre proceeded. 
All was turbulence and horror. On every side savages were butchering 
and scalping their wretched victims. Their hideous yells, the groans of 
the dying, and the frantic shrieks of others shrinking from the uplifted 
tomahawk, were heard by the French unmoved. The fury of the sava- 
ges was permitted to rage without restraint, until fifteen hundred were 
killed, or hurried captives into the wilderness. The day after this awful 
tragedy, Major Putnam was sent with his rangers to watch the motion? 
of the enemy. When he came to the shore of the lake, their rear was 
hardly beyond the reach of musket shot. The prospect was horrible ir 
the extreme ; the fort demolished ; the barracks and buildings yet burn 
ing ; innumerable fragments of human carcasses still broiling in the de 
caying fires ; and dead bodies, mangled with tomahawks and scalping 
knives, in all the wantonness of Indian barbarity, were every where scat 
tered around. 

Thus ended the third campaign"^ in America ; happily forming thc- 
last of a series of disasters resulting from folly and mismanagement 
rather than from want of means and military strength. The successes 

* "While the army was in winter quarters, a circumstance occurred, which exhibits 
the watchful jealousy the colonists ever exercised over their liberties. " The GeneraJ 
Court had provided barracks on Castle Island for a regiment of Highlanders, which 
had been expected at Boston. Some recruiting officers soon afterwards arrived al 
Nova Scotia ; and, protesting that their regiments would never be filled up if the men 
must be lodged in these barracks, they required the justices of the peace to furnish 
quarters, according to the act of Parliament. The justices denied that the act of Par- 
liament extended to this country. Lord Loudoun wrote the Court a letter, and assert- 
ed roundly that it did ; that, moreover, he had ' used gentleness and patience' long 
enough ; and that, unless the requisitions were complied within forty-eight hours from 
the receipt of his letter, he should be ' under the necessity' of ordering ' into Boston 
the three battalions from New York, Long Island, and Connecticut ; and if more were 
wanting, he had two in the Jerseys at hand, beside those in Pennsylvania.' The Gene- 
ral Court now passed an act very similar to that of Parliament, on the subject of re- 
cruits ; but it did not fully answer Lord Loudoun's expectations, nor did he fail to let 
them know it in a seconfl epistle. The answer of the General Court was merely a re- 
iteration of what we have so often heard from the same body. They asserted their 
rights as Englishmen ; said they had conformed to the act of Parhament as nearly as 
the case would admit ; and declared that it was their misfortune, if a strict adherence 
to their duty should give offence to Lord Loudoun. He, in turn, applauded the zeal 
of the province in the service of his majesty, affected to rely on its compliance with 
his wishes, and countermanded his orders for the march of the troops. The Gene- 
ral Court sent his excellency a concluding message, in which they asserted that they 
were entirely dependent on Parliament ; that its acts were the rule of all their judicial 
proceedings ; that its authority had never been questioned ; and that if they had not 
made this avowal ' in times past, it was because there had been no occasion for it.' 
Judge Marshal seems to think that this language was sincere, but Mr. Minot attri- 
butes it to the desire of the Court to keep friends with Parliament till they were reim- 
bursed for the expenses which they had incurred during the war. The truth is probably 
between the two opiai3ns."-^^fl«/iwd'5 History of the United States, p. 145, 146. 



132 THE FRENCH WARS. 

of the French left the colonies in a gloomy state. By the acquisition of 
Fort William Henry, they had obtained full possession of the Lakes Cham- 
plain and George ; and by the destruction of Oswego, they had acquir- 
ed the dominion of those other lakes which connect the St. Lawrence with 
the waters of the Mississippi. The first afforded the easiest admission 
from the northern colonies into Canada, or from Canada into those colo- 
nies ; the last united Canada to Louisiana. By the continued possession 
of Fort Du Quesne, they preserved their ascendancy over the Indians, 
and held undisturbed control of all the country west of the Alleghany 
mountains. The British nation was alarmed and indignant, and the 
King found it necessary to change his coancils. At the head of the new 
ministry, he placed the celebrated William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chat- 
ham, who was raised by his talents from the humble post of ensign in 
the guards to the control of the destinies of a mighty empire ; under his 
administration public confidence revived, and the nation seemed inspired 
with new life and vigor. He was equally popular in both hemispheres ; 
and so promptly did the Governors of the northern colonies obey the re- 
quisitions of his circular letter of 1757, that by May in the following year, 
Massachusetts had seven thousand, Connecticut five thousand, and New 
Hampshire three thousand troops, prepared to take the field. The zeal 
of Massachusetts was particularly ardent. The people of Boston sup- 
ported taxes which took away two thirds of the income on real estate ; 
one half of the effective men in the province were on some sort of mili- 
tary duty ; and the transports for carrying the troops to Halifax were 
ready to sail in fourteen days from the time of their engagement. The 
mother country was not less active. While her fleets blockaded or cap- 
tured the French armaments, she dispatched Admiral Boscawen to Halifax 
with a formidable squadron of ships, and an army of twelve thousand 
men. Lord Loudoun was replaced by General Abercrombie, who, early in 
the spring of 175S, was ready to enter upon the campaign at the head of 
fifty thousand men, the most powerful army ever seen in America. 

Three points of attack were marked out for this campaign ; the first, 
Louisburg; the second, Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and the third, 
Fort Du Quesne. On the first expedition Admiral Boscawen sailed from 
Halifax on the 28th of May, with a fleet of twenty ships of the line and 
eighteen frigates, and an army of fourteen thousand men under the com- 
mand of General Amherst, and arrived before Louisburg on the 2d of 
June. The garrison of that place, commanded by the Chevalier De Dru- 
court, an ofiicer of courage and experience, was composed of two thou- 
sand five hundred regulars, aided by six hundred militia. The harbor 
being secured by five ships of the line, one fifty gun ship, and five frigates, 
three of which were sunk across the mouth of the basin, it was found 
necessary to land at some distance from the town. This being effected, 
and the artillery and stores brought on shore, General Wolfe was detach- 
ed with two thousand men to seize a post occupied by the enemy at 
the Lighthouse point, from which the ships in the harbor, and the 
fortifications in the town, might be greatly annoyed. On the approach 
of that gallant officer, the post was abandoned by the enemy, and several 
very strong batteries were erected there by their opponents. Approaches 



THE FRENCH WARS. 133 

were also made on the opposite side of the town, and the siege was press- 
ed with resolution and vigor, though with great caution. A very heavy 
cannonade being kept up against the town and the vessels in the harbor, 
a bomb was at length set on fire and blew up one of the largest ships, 
and the flames were communicated to two others, which shared the same 
fate. The English Admiral now sent six hundred men in boats into the 
harbor, to make an attempt on two ships of the line, which still remained 
in the basin ; one of which, being aground, was destroyed, the other was 
towed off in triumph. This gallant exploit putting the English in com- 
plete possession of the harbor, and several breaches being made practica- 
ble in the works, the place was deemed no longer defensible, and the Go- 
vernor offered to capitulate. It was required that the garrison should sur- 
render as prisoners of war. These humiliating terms, though at first re- 
jected, Avere afterwards acceded to ; and Louisburg, with all its artillery, 
provisions, and military stores, as also Island Royal, St. Johns and their 
dependencies, were placed in the hands of the English, who, without 
farther difficulty, took possession of the island of Cape Breton. The 
conquerors found two hundred and twenty-one pieces of cannon, and 
eif;htpen mortars, with a very large quantity of stores and ammunition., 
The mhabitants of Cape Breton Avere sent to France in English ships; 
but the garrison, sea officers, sailors, and marines, amounting collectively 
to nearly six thousand men, were carried prisoners to England. 

The armies destined to execute the plans against Ticonderoga and Fort 
Du Quesne were appointed to rendezvous respectively at Albany and 
Philadelphia. The first was commanded by General Abercrombie, and 
consisted of upwards of fifteen thousand men, attended by a formidable 
train of artillery. On the 5th of July, the General embarked his troops 
on Lake George, on board of one hundred and twenty-five whale boats, 
and nine hundred batteaux, and commenced operations against Ticondero- 
ga. After debarkation at the landing-place in a cove on the west side 
of the lake, the troops were formed into four columns, the British in the 
centra., and the provincials on the flanks. In this order they marched to- 
wards the advanced guard of the French, which, consisting of one bat- 
talion only, posted in a logged camp, destroyed what was in their power, 
and made a precipitate retreat. While Abercrombie was continuing 
his march in the woods toward Ticonderoga, the columns were thrown, 
into confusion, and in some degree entangled with each other. At this 
juncture. Lord Howe, at the head of the r.ght centre column, fell in with 
a part of the advance guard of the enemy which had been lost in the 
wood in retreating from Lake George, and immediately attacked and dis- 
persed it, killing a considerable number, and taking one hundred and 
forty-eight prisoners. This success was, however, dearly purchased by 
the loss of the gallant nobleman who fell in leading the attack. The 
English army, without further opposition, took possession of a post within 
two miles of Ticonderoga. Abercrombie, having learned from the prisoners 
the strength of the enemy at that fortress, and from an engineer the condi- 
tion of their works, resolved on an immediate storm, and made instant dispo- 
sition for an assault. The troops having received orders to march up brisk- 
ly, rush upon the enemy's fire, and reserve their own till they had passed 



134 . THE FRENCH WARS. 

a breastwork, marched to the assault with great intrepidity. Unlook- 
ed for impediments, however, occurred. In front of the oreastwork, to a 
considerable distance, trees had been felled with their branches outward, 
many of which were sharpened to a point, by means of which the as- 
sailants were not only retarded in their advance, but, becoming entangled 
among the boughs, were exposed to a very galling fire. Finding it im- 
practicable to pass the breastwork, which was eight or nine feet high, and 
much stronger than had been represented. General Abercrombie, after a 
contest of near four hours, ordered a retreat, and the next day resumed 
his former camp on the south side of Lake George. In this brave but ill- 
judged assault, nearly two thousand of the assailants were killed and 
wounded, while the loss of the enemy, who were covered during the 
whole action, was inconsiderable. General Abercrombie immediately re- 
crossed Lake George, and entirely abandoned the project of capturing 
Ticonderoga. 

The campaign was not destined, however, to close with such iU success. 
Colonel Bradstreet proposed an expedition against Frontignac ; a fort, 
which, by being placed on the north side of the St. Lawrence, just where it 
issues from Lake Ontario, was the key to the communication between Cana- 
da and Louisiana. It served also to keep the Indians in subjection, and was 
the general repository of stores for the enemy's western and southern posts. 
Late in the evening of the 2oth of August, Colonel Bradstreet landed with- 
in a mile of the place, with three thousand men, eight pieces of cannon, and 
three mortars. The French had not anticipated an attack at this point, 
and the garrison consisted of only one hundred and ten men, with a few 
Indian auxiliaries. It was impossible to hold out long. Colonel Brad- 
street posted his mortars so near the fort, that ever}* shell took efiect ; and 
the commander was very soon obliged to surrender at discretion. The 
booty consisted of sixty pieces of cannon, great numbers of small arms, 
provisions, militarj' stores, goods to a large amount, and nine armed ves- 
sels of from eight to eighteen gims. Colonel Bradstreet destroyed the 
fort and vessels, recrossed the Ontario, and returned to the army. 

Had it not been for this fortunate enterprise, the unaccountable 
delay in preparing the expedition against Du Quesne would probably 
have left that fort a third time in possession of the enemy. It was not 
until June that the commander, General Forbes, set out from Philadel- 
phia ; it was September before Colonel Washington, with the Virginia 
regulars, was ordered to join the main body, at Ray's Town ; and, 
owing to the difficulties of cutting a new road, it was as late as Novem- 
ber, when the army appeared before Du Quesne. The garrison, desert- 
ed by the Indians, and without adequate means of defence, had escaped 
down the Ohio, the evening before the arrival of the British, who had 
only to take possession, therefore, in the King's name. The fort was 
supplied with a new garrison, and the name changed to Pittsburg. The 
Indians, as usual, joined the strongest side. A peace was concluded 
with all the tribes between the Ohio and the Lakes ; and the frontier in- 
habitants of Pennsylvania, Marj-land, and Virginia, were once more 
relieved from the terrors of fire and scalping knives. 

The campaign of 1758 was highly honorable to the British arms, and 



THE FRENCH WARS. 135 

the results of it very important. Of the three expeditions, two had 
completely succeeded, and the leader of the third had made an important 
conquest. To the commanding talents of Pitt, and the confidence which 
they inspired, this change of fortune must be chiefly attributed; and in 
no respect were these talents more strikingly displayed than in the 
choice of men to execute his plans. The advantages of this campaign 
had, however, been purchased by an expensive eflx)rt and corresponding 
exhaustion of provincial strength ; and, when a circular letter from Mr. 
Pitt to the several Governors induced the colonies to resolve upon mak- 
ing the most vigorous preparation for the next, they soon discovered that 
their resources were by no means commensurate with their zeai. 

Notwithstanding these difficulties, it was resolved to signalize the year 
1759 by the complete conquest of Canada. The plan of the campaign 
was, that three powerful armies should enter the French possessions by 
three different routes, and attack all their strong holds at nearly the same 
time. At the head of one division of the army. Brigadier General Wolfe, 
a young officer who had signalized himself at the siege of Louisburg, 
was to ascend the St. Lawrence and lay siege to Quebec, escorted by a 
strong fleet to co-operate with his troops. The central and main army, 
composed of British and provincials, was to be conducted against Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point by General Amherst, the new Commander in 
chief, who, after making himself master of these places, was to proceed 
over Lake Champlain, and by the way of Richelieu river, to the St. 
Lawrence, and, descending that river, form a junction with General 
Wolfe before the walls of Quebec. The third army, to be composed 
principally of provincials, reinforced by a strong body of friendly In- 
dians, was to be commanded by General Prideaux, who was to lead this 
division first against Niagara, and, after the reduction of that place, 
to embark on Lake Ontario, and proceed down the St. Lawrence against 
Montreal. It has been observed by a recent author, " Had the elements 
been laid, and the enemy spell-bound, the whole of this brilliant plan 
could not have helped succeeding." This sentence, however, betrays a 
very limited view of a plan that was well worthy of the mind of Pitt, 
In this arrangement immediate advantage was not sacrificed; while the 
more remote results exhibited a prospect highly calculated to excite the 
ambition of the leaders, and to arouse all the energies of the troops. It 
is in thus affording motives which tend to bring physical force into most 
effective and persevering action, that intellectual superiority becomes 
manifest, confounding the calculations of ordinary minds. 

Early in the winter, General Amherst commenced preparations for his 
part of the enterprise ; but it was not till the last of May that his troops 
were assembled at Albany; and it was as late as the 22d of July, when 
he appeared before Ticonderoga. As the naval superiority of Great 
Britain had prevented France from sending out reinforcements, none of 
the posts in this quarter were able to withstand so great a force as that 
of General Amherst. Ticonderoga was immediately abandoned ; the 
example was followed at Crown Point ; and the only way in which the 
enemy seemed to think of preserving their province was by retarding the 
English army with shows of resistance till the season of operation should 



136 THE FRENCH WARS. 

be passed, or till, by the gradual concentration of their forces, they should 
become numerous enough to make an effectual stand. From Crown 
Point they retreated to Isle-aux-Noix, where General Amherst under- 
stood there was a body of between three and four thousand men, and a 
fleet of several armed vee-sels. The English made great exertions to se- 
cure a naval superiority ; and had it not been for a succession of adverse 
storms upon the lake, they Avould most probably have accomplished the 
original design of forming a junction at Quebec, instead of being obliged 
to go into winter quarters at Crown Point. In prosecution of the enter- 
prise against Niagara, General Prideaux had embarked with an army on 
Lake Ontario ; and on the 6th of July, landed without opposition, within 
about three miles from the fort, which he invested in form. While di- 
recting the operations of the siege, he was killed by the bursting of a co- 
horn, and the command devolved upon Sir William Johnson. That 
General, prosecuting with judgment and vigor the plan of his predeces- 
sor, pushed the attack of Niagara with an intrepidity that soon brought 
the besiegers within a hundred yards of the covered way. Meanwhile, 
the French, alarmed at the danger of losing a post which Avas a key to 
their interior empire in America, had collected a large body of regular 
troops from the neighboring garrisons of Detroit, Venango, and Presqu' 
Isle, with which, and a party of Indians, they resolved, if possible, to 
raise the siege. Apprised of their intention to hazard a battle, General 
Johnson ordered his light infantry, supported by some grenadiers and re- 
gular foot, to take post between the cataract of Niagara and the fortress ; 
placed the auxiliary Indians on his flanks ; and, together with this prepa- 
ration for an engagement, took effectual measures for securing his lines, 
and bridling the garrison. About nine in the morning of the 24th of 
July, the enemy appeared, and the horrible sound of the war whoop from 
the hostile Indians was the signal of battle. The French charged with 
great impetuosity, but were received with firmness ; and in less than an 
hour were completely routed. This battle decided the fate of Niagara. 
Sir William Johnson, the next morning, opened negociations with the 
French commandant ; and in a few hours a capitulation was signed. 
The garrison, consisting of six hundred and seven men, were to march 
out with the honors of war, to be embarked on the lake, and carried to 
New York; and the women and children were to be carried to Montreal. 
The reduction of Niagara effectually cut off the communication between 
Canada and Louisiana. 

The expedition against the capital of Canada was the most daring and 
important. Strong by nature, and still stronger by art, Quebec had ob- 
tained the appellation of the Gibraltar of America ; and every attempt 
against it had failed. It was now commanded by Montcalm, an officer 
of distinguished reputation; and its capture must have appeared chime- 
rical to any one but Pitt. He judged rightly, however, that the boldest and 
most dangerous enterprises are often the most successful, especially when 
committed to ardent minds, glowing with enthusiasm, and emulous of 
glory. Such a mind he had discovered in General Wolfe, whose con- 
duct at Louisburg had attracted his attention. He appointed him to 
conduct the expedition, and gave him "or assistants Brigadier Generals 



THE FRENCH WARS. 137 

Monckton, Townshend, and Murray; all, like himself, young and ardent. 
Early in the season he sailed from Halifax with eight thousand troops, 
and, near the last of June, landed the whole army on the island of Or- 
leans, a few miles below Quebec. From this position he could take a 
near and distinct view of the obstacles to be overcome. These were so 
great, that even the bold and sanguine Wolfe perceived more to fear than 
to hope. In a letter to Mr. Pitt, written before commencing operations, 
he declared that he saw but little prospect of reducing the place. 

Quebec stands on the north side of the St. Lawrence, and consists of 
an upper and lower town. The lower town lies between the river and a 
bold and lofty eminence, which runs parallel to it far to the westward. 
At the top of this eminence is a plain, upon which the upper town is 
situated. Below, or east of the city, is the river St. Charles, whose 
channel is rough, and whose banks are steep and broken. At a short 
distance farther down is the Montmorency ; and between these two ri- 
vers, and reaching from one to the other, was encamped the French 
army, strongly intrenched, and at least equal in number to that of the 
English. General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, on the southern 
bank of the St. Lawrence, and there erected batteries against the town. 
The cannonade which was kept up, though it destroyed many houses, 
made but little impression on the works, which were too strong and too 
remote to be materially affected ; their elevation, at the same time, placing 
them beyond the reach of the fleet. Convinced of the impossibility of re- 
ducing the place, unless he could erect batteries on the north side of the St. 
Lawrence, Wolfe soon decided on more daring measures. The northern 
shore of the St. Lawrence, to a considerable distance above Quebec, is 
so bold and rocky as to render a landing in the face of an enemy im- 
practicable. If an attempt were made below the town, the river Mont- 
morency passed, and the French driven from their intrenchments, the 
St. Charles would present a new, and perhaps an insuperable barrier. 
With every obstacle fully in view, Wolfe, heroically observing that " a 
victorious army finds no difficulties," resolved to pass the Montmorency, 
and bring Montcalm to an engagement. In pursuance of this resolution, 
thirteen companies of English grenadiers, and part of the second batta- 
lion of royal Americans, were landed at the mouth of that river, while 
two divisions, under Generals Townshend and Murray, prepared to cross 
it higher up. Wolfe's plan was to attack first a redoubt, close to the 
water's edge, apparently beyond reach of the fire from the enemy's in- 
trenchments, in the belief that the French., by attempting to support that 
fortification, would put it in his power to bring on a general engagement ; 
or, if they should submit to the loss of the redoubt, that he could after- 
wards examine their situation with coolness, and advantageously regu- 
late his future operations. On the approach of the British troops the 
redoubt was evacuated ; and the General, observing some confusion in 
the French camp, changed his original plan, and determined not to delay 
an attack. Orders were immediately dispatched to the Generals Towns- 
hend and Murray, to keep their divisions in readiness for fording the 
liver ; and the grenadiers and royal Americans were directed to form on 
the beach until they could be properly sustained. These troops, how* 



138 THE FRENCH WARS. 

ever, not waiting for support, rushed impetuously toward the enemy's in- 
trenchments ; but they were received with so strong and steady a fire 
from the French musketry, that they were instantly thrown into disor- 
der, and obliged to seek shelter at the redoubt Avhich the enemy had 
abandoned. Detained here awhile by a dreadful thunder storm, they 
were still within reach of a severe fire from the French ; and many 
gallant officers, exposing their persons in attempting to form the troops, 
were killed, the whole loss amounting to nearly five hundred men. The 
plan of attack being effectually disconcerted, the English General gave 
orders for repassing the river, and returning to the isle of Orleans. 

Compelled to abandon the attack on that side, Wolfe deemed that ad- 
vantage might result from attempting to destroy the French fleet, and by 
distracting the attention of Montcalm with continual descents upon the 
northern shore. General Murray, with twelve hundred men in trans- 
ports, made two vigorous but abortive attempts to land ; and though 
more successful in the third, he did nothing more than burn a magazine 
of warlike stores. The enemy's fleet was effectually secured against at- 
tacks, either by land or by water, and the Commander in chief was again 
obliged to submit to the mortification of recalling his troops. At this 
juncture, intelligence arrived that Niagara was taken, that Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point had been abandoned, but that General Amherst, in- 
stead of pressing forward to their assistance, was preparing to attack the 
Isle-aux-Noix. While Wolfe rejoiced at the triumph of his brethren in 
arms, he could not avoid contrasting their success with his own disas- 
trous efforts. His mind, alike lofty and susceptible, was deeply impress- 
ed by the disasters at Montmorency ; and his extreme anxiety, preying 
upon his delicate frame, sensibly affected his health. He was observed 
frequently to sigh ; and, as if life was only valuable while it added to 
his glory, he declared to his intimate friends, that he would not survive 
the disgrace which he imagined would attend the failure of his enter- 
prise. Nothing, however, could shake the resolution of this valiant 
commander, or induce him to abandon the attempt. In a council of his 
principal officers, called on this critical occasion, it was resolved, that all 
the future operations should be above the town. The camp at the isle 
of Orleans was accordingly abandoned ; and the whole army having em- 
barked on board the fleet, a part of it was landed at Point Levi, and a 
part higher up the river. Montcalm, apprehending from this movement 
that the invaders might make a distant descent and come on the back of 
the city of Quebec, detached M. de Bougainville with fifteen hundred 
men, to watch their motions, and prevent their landing. 

Baffled and harassed in all his previous assaults. General Wolfe 
seems to have determined to finish the enterprise by a single bold and 
desperate eflfort. The Admiral sailed several leagues up the river, 
making occasional demonstrations of a design to land troops ; and, du- 
ring the night, a strong detachment in flat-bottomed boats fell silently 
down with the stream, to a point about a mile above the city. The 
beach was shelving, the bank high and precipitous, and the only part by 
Avhich it could be scaled, Avas now defended by a Captain's guard and a 
battery of four guns. Colonel Howe, with the van, soon climbed up 



THE FRENCH WARS. 139 

the rocks, drove away the guard, and seized upon the battery. The 
army landed about an hour before day, and by daybreak was marshalled 
on the heights of Abraham. 

Montcalm could not at first believe the intelligence ; but, as soon as 
he was assured of its truth, he made all prudent haste to decide a battle 
which it was no longer possible to avoid. Leaving his camp at Mont- 
morency, he crossed the river St. Charles with the intention of attacking 
the English army. No sooner did Wolfe observe this movement, than 
he began to form his order of battle. His troops consisted of six bat- 
talions, and the Louisburg grenadiers. The right wing was commanded 
by General Monckton, and the left by General Murray. The right flank 
was covered by the Louisburg grenadiers, and the rear and left by 
Howe's light infantry. The form in which the French advanced indicat- 
ing an intention to outflank the left of the English army, General 
Townshend was sent with the battalion of Amherst, and the two batta- 
lions of royal Americans, to that part of the line, and they were formed 
en potence, so as to present a double front to the enemy. The body of 
reserve consisted of one regiment, drawn up in eight divisions, with 
large intervals. The dispositions made by the French General were not 
less masterly. The right and left wings were composed about equally 
of European and colonial troops. The centre consisted of a column, 
formed of two battalions of regulars. Fifteen hundred Indians and Ca- 
nadians, excellent marksmen, advancing in front, screened by surround- 
ing thickets, began the battle. Their irregular fire proved fatal to many 
British officers, but it was soon silenced by the steady fire of the En- 
glish. About nine in the morning the main body of the French advanc- 
ed briskly to the charge, and the action soon became general. Mont- 
calm having taken post on the left of the French army, and Walfe on 
the right of the English, the two Generals met each other where the 
battle was most severe. The English troops reserved their fire until the 
French had advanced within forty yards of their line, and then, by a 
general discharge, made terrible havoc among their ranks. The fire of 
the English was vigorously maintained, and the enemy every where 
yielded to it. General Wolfe, who, exposed in the front of his bat- 
talions, had been wounded in the wrist, betraying no symptom of pain, 
wrapped a handkerchief round his arm, and continued to encourage his 
men. Soon after, he received a shot in the groin ; but, concealing the 
wound, he was pressing on at the head of his grenadiers with fixed 
bayonets, when a third ball pierced his breast."* The army, not discon- 

* On receiving his mortal wound, Wolfe was conveyed into the rear, where, careless 
about himself, he discovered, in the agonies of death, the most anxious solicitude con- 
cerning the fate of the day. From extreme faintness, he had reclined Lis head on the 
arm of an officer, but was soon aroused by the cry of "They fly, they fly!" "Who 
fly?" exclaimed the d3dng hero. "The French," answered his attendant. "Then," 
said he, " I die contented," and immediately expired. A death more full of military 
glory has seldom been recorded by the pen of the historian, or celebrated by the pencil 
of the painter. General Wolfe was only thirty-three years of age. He possessed 
those military talents, which, with the advantage of years and opportunity of action, 
"to moilerate his ardor, expand his faculties, and give to his intuitive perception and 
scientific knowledge the correctness of judgment perfected by experience," would 



140 THE FRENCH WARS. 

certed by his fall, continued the action under Monckton, on whom the 
command now devolved, but who, receiving a ball through his body, soon 
yielded the command to General Townshend. Montcalm, fighting in 
front of his battalions, received a mortal wound about the same time ; 
and General Senezergus, the second in command, also fell. The Bri 
tish grenadiers pressed on with their bayonets. General Murray, briskly 
advancing with the troops under his direction, broke the centre of the 
French army. The Highlanders, drawing their broadswords, completed 
the confusion of the enemy ; and after having lost their first and second in 
command, the right and centre of the French were entirely driven from the 
field ; and the left was following the example, when Bougainville ap- 
peared in the rear, with the fifteen hundred men who had been sent to 
oppose the landing of the English. Two battalions and two pieces of 
artillery were detached to meet him ; but he retired, and the British 
troops were left the undisputed masters of the field. The loss of the 
French was much greater than that of the English. The corps of 
French regulars was almost entirely annihilated. The killed and 
wounded of the English army did not amount to six hundred men. 
Although Quebec was still strongly defended by its fortifications, and 
might possibly be relieved by Bougainville, or from Montreal, yet Ge- 
neral Townshend had scarcely finished a road in the bank to get up his 
heavy artillery for a siege, when the inhabitants capitulated, on condition 
that during the war they might still enjoy their own civil and religious 
rights. A garrison of five thousand men was left under General Murray, 
and the fleet sailed out of the St. Lawrence. 

The fall of Quebec did not immediately produce the submission of 
Canada. The main body of the French army, which, after the battle on 
the plains of Abraham, retired to Montreal, and which still consisted of 
ten battalions of regulars, had been reinforced by six thousand Canadian 
militia, and a body of Indians. With these forces M. de Levi, who had 
succeeded the Marquis de Montcalm in the chief command, resolved to 
attempt the recovery of Quebec. He had hoped to carry the place by a 
coup de main during the winter ; but, on reconnoitring, he found the out- 
posts so well secured, and the Governor so vigilant and active, that he 
postponed the enterprise until spring. In the month of April, when the 
upper part of the St. Lawrence was so open as to admit a transportation 
by water, his artillery, military stores, and heavy baggage, were embark- 
ed at Montreal, and fell down the river under convoy of six frigates ; 
and M. de Levi, after a march of ten days, arrived with his army at 
Point au Tremble, within a few miles of Quebec. General Murray, to 
whom the care of maintaining the English conquest had been in- 
trusted, had taken every precaution to preserve it ; but his troops had 

have "placed him on a level with the most celebrated generals of any age or nation." 
Montcalm -was every way worthy to be a competitor of Wolfe. He had the truest 
military genius of any officer whom the French had ever employed in America. 
After he had received his mortal wound, he was carried into the city ; and when 
informed that it was mortal, his reply was, " I am glad of it." On being told that h« 
could survive but a few hours, " So much the better," he replied, " I shall uot then 
live to see the suirender of Quebec." 



THE FRENCH WARS. 141 

suffered so much by the extreme cold of the winter, and by the want of 
vegetables and fresh provisions, that instead of five thousand, the original 
number of his garrison, there were not at this time above three thousand 
men fit for service. With this small but valiant body he resolved to 
meet the enemy in the fidd ; and on the 2Sth of April marched out to 
the heights of Abraham, where, near Sillery, he attacked the Frenclf 
under M. de Levi with great impetuosity. He was received with firm- 
ness ; and, after a fierce encounter, finding himself outflanked, and in 
danger of being surrounded by superior numbers, he called off' his troops, 
and retired into the city. In this action the loss of the English was 
near a thousand men, and that of the French still greater. The French 
General lost no time in improving his victory. On the very evening of 
the battle he opened trenches before the town, but it was the 11th of 
May before he could mount his batteries, and bring his guns to bear on 
the fortifications. By that time General Murray, who had been indefati- 
gable in his exertions, had completed some outworks, and planted so 
numerous an artillery on his ramparts, that his fire was very superior to 
that of the besiegers, and in a manner silenced their batteries. A Bri- 
tish fleet most opportunely arriving a few days after, M. de Levi imme- 
diately raised the siege, and precipitately retired to Montreal. Here the 
Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor-General of Canada, had fixed his head- 
quarters, and determined to make his last stand. For this purpose he 
called in all his detachments, and collected around him the whole force 
of the colony. 

The English, on the other hand, were resolved upon the utter annihi- 
lation of the French power in Canada; and General Amherst pre- 
pared to overwhelm it with an irresistible superiority of numbers. 
Almost on the same day, the armies from Quebec, from Lake Ontario, 
and from Lake Champlain, were concentrated before Montreal : a capitu- 
lation was immediately signed ; Detroit, Michilimackinac, and, indeed, 
all New France, surrendered to the English. The French troops Avere 
to be carried home ; and the Canadians to retain their civil and religious 
privileges. 

The history of modern Europe, with whose destiny that of the colonies 
was closely interwoven, may be designated as the annals of an intermi- 
nable war. Her sovereigns, ever having the oily words of peace on their 
lips, have seldom had recourse to the olive branch but as the signal of a 
truce, the duration of which should be coeval with the reinvigoration of 
military strength. It was thus with France on the present occasion. 
Equally unsuccessful on both continents, and exhausted by her strenuous 
and continued efforts, she was at length induced to make overtures of 
peace ; and every thing seemed to be in a fair train for adjustment, when 
the treaty was suddenly broken off" by an attempt of the court of Ver- 
seilles to mingle the politics of Spain and of Germany with the disputes 
between France and Great Britain. A secret family compact between 
the Bourbons to support each other through evil and good, in peace and 
in war, had rendered Spain desirous of war, and induced France once 
more to try her fortune. As the interests of the two nations were now 
identified, it only remained for England to make a formal declaration of 



142 THE FRENCH WARS. 

hostility against Spain. The colonies of New England being chiefly 
interested in the reduction of the West India islands, furnished a coi>- 
siderable body of troops to carry on the war. A large fleet was dis- 
patched from England; the land forces amounted to sixteen thousand; 
and before the end of the second year, Great Britain had the important 
city of Havana, the key of the Mexican Gulf, together with the French 
provinces of Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Carib- 
bee islands. 

The progress of the British conquests, which threatened all the re- 
maining colonial possessions of their opponents, was arrested by prelimi- 
nary articles of peace, which, towards the close of 1762, were exchanged 
at Fontainbleau between the Ministers of Great Britain, France, and 
Spain. On the 10th of February in the following year, a definitive 
treaty of peace was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified. France 
ceded to Great Britain all the conquests which the latter had made in 
North America ; and it was stipulated between the two croAvns, that the 
boundary line of their respective dominions in the new hemisphere should 
Tun along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the 
Iberville, and along the middle of that river, and of Lakes Maurepas and 
Pontchartrain. 

Thus terminated a Avar, which originated in an attempt on the part of 
the French to surround the English colonists, and chain them to a nar- 
row strip of country along the coast of the Atlantic ; and ended with 
their giving up the whole of what was then their only valuable territory 
In North America. The immediate advantage the colonies derived from 
the successful issue of the contest was great and apparent. Although, 
for a short period after the conquest of Canada had been effected, they 
were subject to attacks from the Indian tribes attached to the French, 
and also from the Cherokees on their south-western borders, they were 
soon enabled to visit their cruelties with severe retribution, and to pro- 
cure a lasting repose, as the Indians had no forts to which to repair 
for protection or aid. But the indirect results, though almost unper- 
ceived at first, were far more important, and prepared the way for those 
momentous efforts which issued in the loss to Great Britain of the fairest 
portion of her colonies, and the establishment of her vassal as a rival. 
The colonists became inured to the habits and hardships of a military 
life, and skilled in the arts of European warfare; while the desire of 
revenge for the loss of Canada, which France did not fail to harbor, was 
preparing for them a most efficient friend, and making way for the ano- 
malous exhibition of a despotic sovereign exerting all his power in the 
cause of liberty and independence. 



143 



ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION 



FIFTH OF MARCH, 1770. 

Early in the evening of the 5lh of March, 1770, the inhabitants of Bos- 
ton were observed to assemble in different quarters of the town ; parties 
of soldiers were also driving about the streets, as if both the one and the 
other had something moie than ordinary upon their minds. About eight 
o'clock, one of the bells of the town was rung in such manner as is usual 
in case of fire. This called people into the streets. A large number 
assembled in the market-place, not far from King-street, armed with 
bludgeons, or clubs. A small fray between some of the inhabitants and 
the soldiers arose at or near the barracks at the west part of the town, 
but it was of little importance, and was soon over. A sentinel who was 
posted at the custom-house, not far from the main guard, was next insult- 
ed, and pelted with pieces of ice and other missiles, which caused him 
to call to the main guard to protect him. Notice was soon given to Captain 
Preston, whose company was then on guard, and a sergeant with six 
men was sent to protect the sentinel ; but the Captain, to prevent any 
precipitate action, followed them himself. There seem to have been but 
few people collected when the assault was first made on the sentinel; but 
the sergeant's guard drew a greater number together, and they were more 
insulted than the sentinel had been, and received frequent blows from snow 
balls and lumps of ice. Captain Preston thereupon ordered them to 
charge ; but this was no discouragement to the assailants, who continued 
to pelt the guard, daring them to fire. Some of thepeopfewho were be- 
hind the soldiers, and observed the abuse of them, called on them to do 
so. At length one received a blow with a club, which brought him to the 
ground ; but, rising again, he immediately fired, and all the rest, except 
one, followed the example. This seems, from the evidence on the trials 
and the observation of persons present, to have been the course of the 
material facts. Three men were killed, two mortally wounded, who died 
soon after, and several slightly wounded. 

The soldiers immediately withdrew to the main guard, which was 
strengthened by additional companies. Two or three of the persons who 
had seen the action ran to the Lieutenant-Governor's house, which was 
about half a mile distant, and begged he would go to King-street, where 
they feared a general action would come on between the troops and the 
inhabitants. He went immediately, and, to satisfy the people, called for 
Captain Preston, and inquired why he had fired upon the inhabitants 
without the direction of a civil magistrate. The noise was so great that 
his answer could not be understood; and some persons, who 'vere appre- 



144 ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 

hensive of the Lieutenant-Governor's danger from the general confusion 
called out " The town-house, the town-house !" when, with irresistible 
violence, he was forced up by the crowd into the council chamber. 
There demand was immediately made of him, to order the troops to 
withdraw from the town-house to their barracks. He refused ; but calling 
from the balcony to the great body of people who remained in the street, 
he expressed his great concern at the unhappy event ; assured them he 
would do every thing in his power to obtain a full and impartial inquiry, 
that the law might have its course ; and advised them to go peaceably to 
their homes. Upon this there was a cry — " Home, home !" and a great 
part separated, and went home. He then signified his opinion to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Carr, that if the companies in arms were ordered to their 
barracks, the streets would be cleared and the town in quiet for that night. 
Upon their retiring, the rest of the inhabitants, except those in the coun- 
cil chamber, retired also. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, at the desire of the Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor, came to the council chamber, while several justices were examining 
persons who were present at the transactions of the evening. From the 
evidence it was apparent that the justices would commit Captain Preston, 
if taken. Several hours passed before he could be found, and the people 
suspected that he would not run the hazard of a trial ; but at length he 
surrendered himself to a warrant for apprehending him, and, having been 
examined, was committed to prison. The next morning the soldiers who 
were upon guard surrendered also, and were committed. This was not 
sufficient to satisfy the people, and early in the forenoon they were in 
motion again. The Lieutenant-Governor caused his council to be sum- 
moned, and desired the two Lieutenant-Colonels of the regiments to be 
present. The selectmen of Boston were waiting the Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor's coming to council, and, being admitted, made their representation, 
that, from the contentions arising from the troops quartered in Boston, 
and, above all, from the tragedy of the last night, the minds of the 
inhabitants were exceedingly disturbed; that they would presently be 
assembled in a tOAvn-meeting ; and that, unless the troops should be remov- 
ed, the most terrible consequences were to be expected. The justices 
also of Boston and several of the neighboring towns had assembled, and 
desired to signify their opinion, that it would not be possible to keep 
the people under restraint, if the troops remained in town. The Lieu- 
tenant-Governor acquainted both the selectmen and the justices, that he 
had no authority to alter the place of destination of the King's troops ; 
but that he expected the commanding officers of the two regiments, and 
would let them know the applications which had been made. Presently 
after their coming, a large committee from the town-meeting presented 
an address to the Lieutenant-Governor, declaring it to be the unanimous 
opinion of the meeting, that nothing could rationally le expected to restore 
the peace of the town, " and prevent blood and carnage," but the imme- 
diate removal of the troops. The committee withdrew into another room 
to wait for an answer. Some of the council urged the necessity of com- 
plying with the people's demand ; but the Lieutenant-Governor declared 
that he would, upon no consideration whatever, giv^e orders for their 



ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 145 

removal. Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple then signified, that, as the 
twenty-ninth regiment had originally been designed to be placed at the 
castle, and was now peculiarly obnoxious to the town, he was content 
that it should be removed to the castle, until the General's pleasure shojild 
be known. The committee was informed of this offer, and the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor rose from council, intending to receive no further appli» 
cation upon the subject ; but the council prayed that he would meet them 
again in the afternoon, and Colonel Dalrymple desiring it also, he com- 
plied. Before the council met again, it had been intimated to them that 
the "desire" of the Governor and council to the commanding officer to 
remove the troops, would cause him to do it, though he should receive no 
authoritative "order." As soon as they met, a committee from the town- 
meeting attended with a second message, to acquaint the Lieutenant- 
Governor, that it was the unanimous voice of the people assembled, 
consisting, as they said, of near three thousand persons, that nothing less 
than a total and immediate removal of the troops would satisfy them. 
Ultimately the scruples of the Lieutenant-Governor were overcome, and 
he expressed a desire that the troops should be wholly withdrawn from 
the town to the castle, which was accordingly done. The funeral of the 
victims was attended with extraordinary pomp. Most of the shops were 
closed, all the bells of the town tolled on the occasion, and the corpses 
were followed to the grave by an immense concourse of people arranged 
six abreast, the procession being closed by a long train of carriages be- 
longing to the principal gentry of the town. Captain Preston and the 
party of soldiers were afterwards tried. The Captain and six of the men 
were acquitted, and two were brought in guilty of manslaughter ; a result 
which reflected great honor on John Adams and Josiah Quincy, the 
counsel for the prisoners, and on the jury. 



THE STAMP ACT. 

The Stamp Act was not passed in Parliament until March, 1765. 
Before that time, and while the law was under consideration, all the Colo- 
nies protested against it, and most of them sent agents to London to 
reason with the English Ministers ; but in vain. The act passed in the 
House of Commons, by a vote of two hundred and fifty members against 
fifty. Doctor Franklin, then in London, wrote, the same evening, to 
Charles Thomson, afterwards Secretary of the American Congress, as 
follows: — "The sun of liberty is set; the Americans must light the 
lamps of industry and economy." The gentleman answered, "Be as- 
sured we shall light torches of quite another kind." 

The people of Virginia and Massachusetts were among the first to 
oppose the Stamp Act. But the same feeling was soon spread over the 
whole country. The newspapers were still published on paper not 
stamped, and these were filled with warm discussions upon this subject. 
The lawyers also agreed to use no stamped paper ; a great many public 
officers gave up their commissions, and vast numbers of the people, 



146 ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 

calling themselves sons of liberty, agreed to oppose the Stamp Act, and 
to assist each other, at all hazards. 

In Boston, early in the morning of August 14th, two effigies were 
found hanging on the branch of an old elm, near the southern entrance 
of the city. One represented a stamp officer. There was a great jack- 




boot also, out of which rose a horned head. .The people collected m 
crowds from ihe city and country. About dusk, the images were taken 
down, placed on a bier, and carried about in solemn procession, the 
people following, stamping and shouting, " Liberty and property for- 
ever — no stamps." They passed through the tov\^l-house, down King- 
street, into Kilby-street, halted at the house of one Oliver, which they 
supposed to be meant for a stamp office, and demolished it from top to 
bottom ; they carried off the wood, marched through the streets, with a 
trentendous noise, to the dwelling of Oliver himself; and there, having 
gone through the ceremony of chopping off that gentleman's head, in 
effigy, broke in his windows in an instant. 

They then marched up Fort Hill, still following the two figures, jack- 
boot, horns and all. Here they kindled a bonfire with them, returned to 
Oliver's house with clubs and staves, and destroyed every part of his 
gardens, fences and out-houses. Oliver left a few friends in his house, 
and fled with all possible speed. His friends offended the multitude, and 
they broke open the doors, and destroyed all the furniture in the lower 
story. Mr. Oliver gave notice the next day, that he had concluded not 
to serve as a stamp officer. The people went to his house in the 
evening again, gave him three cheers of encouragement, and left him 
without further damage to himself, his house, or his effigy. 

The people had now another person to attend to. Having heard that 
Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson had written to England in favor of the 
stamp duties, they visited his house in great numbers. As he assured 
them, however, that he had written no such thing, they applauded him 
with skouts, kindled a bonfire, and went home. On the 26th of August, 



ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 147 

the disorders began again. Some boys were playing round a fire in 
King-street. The fire ward coming to extinguish it, some one whispered 
him to keep back. The advice was followed by a few blows and kicks, 
and he soon withdrew. 

Meanwhile, a particular whistle was heard from several quarters, fol- 
lowed by cries of " Sirrah ! Sirrah !" A long train of persons then 
came up, disguised, and armed with clubs and bludgeons. They pro- 
ceeded to surround the house of one Paxton, harbor-master. He thought 
it well to absent himself; but the crowd followed him to a tavern, where 
he persuaded them not to destroy his house. They broke open the 
office and house of Story, another crown officer, opposite the court-house ; 
burned the files and records in the first, and destroyed the furniture in 
the other. 

They afterwards paid some attentions of the same kind to Mr. Hal- 
lowell, collector of the duties, drank up the wine in his cellar, and 
carried off some hundred dollars of his money. They visited Mr. Hutch- 
inson once more about ten o'clock in the evening, and carried ofT his 
plate, pictures, furniture, clothing, manuscripts, and about three thousand 
dollars in cash. Some of the ringleaders of these riots were imprisoned, 
though soon released. The Governor offered rewards for the discovery 
of others : a nightly watch was appointed, and, at a numerous tovni- 
meeting, the selectmen of the town were desired to use every effort to 
prevent these disorders for the future. 

But the Stamp Act was received every where in a similar manner. 
At Newport and Providence, in Rhode Island, vast multitudes got to- 
gether, and dragged about the effigies of several of the crown officers in 
carts, with halters on their necks ; then they hung them up, and cut 
them down to be burned. Some houses, also, were pillaged. So it was, 
too, in Connecticut, at New Haven, Lebanon, and other towns ; in 
New-Hampshire, Maryland, New York, and as far south as the Ca- 
rolinas. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 

When the intelligence of the bajlle of Lexington, which took place on 
the 19th of April, 1775, reached General Putnam, he was engaged in 
ploughing on his farm, at Brooklyn, in Connecticut. He instantly un- 
yoked his cattle, left his plough standing in the unfinished furrow, in the 
midst of the field, and without stopping to change his dress, immediately 
set off for the scene of military transactions, in the vicinity of Boston 
Upon entering the army, he was appointed to the rank of Major-General. 
On the conclusion of the war, General Washington wrote a letter to 
General Putnam, in which he warmly expressed the sense he entertained 
of his ser\nces. " The name of Putnam," says he, " is not forgotten ; 
nor will it be, but with that stroke of time which shall obliterate from 
my mind the remembrance of all those toils and fatigues through which 



148 



ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 



we have struggled, for the preservation and establishment of the rights, 
liberties, and independence of our country." 




When General Putnam was pursued by General Tyron at the head 
of fifteen hundred men, his only method of escape was precipitating his 
horse down the steep declivity of the rock, called Horseneck ; and as 
none of his pursuers dared to follow, he escaped. An act of still more 




daring intrepidity, was his clearing in a boat the tremendous waterfalls 
of Hudson's river. This was in the year 1756, when Putnam was en- 
gaged in a war with the French and their allies, the Indians. He was 
accidentally with a boat and five men on the eastern side of the river, 
when the men on the opposite side informed him, by signal, that a large 
body of savages were advancing to surround him, and that there was not 
a moment to lose. Three modes of conduct were at his option — to re- 
main, fight, and be sacrificed ; to attempt to pass on the other side, ex- 



ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 149 

posed to the full shot of the enemy ; or to sail down the waterfalls, with 
almost a certainty of being overwhelmed. Putnam did not hesitate, 
and jumped into his boat at a fortunate instant ; for one of his compan- 
ions, who was at a little distance, was a victim to the Indians. His 
enemies soon arrived, and discharged their muskets at the boat, before 
he could get out of their reach. No sooner had he escaped this danger, 
through the rapidity of the current, but death presented itself under a 
more terriffic form. Rocks, whose points projected above the surface of 
the water ; large masses of timber, that nearly closed the passage ; ab- 
sorbing gulfs, and rapid descents for more than a quarter of a mile, left 
him little hope of escape. Putnam, however, directed the helm with 
the utmost tranquillity. His companions saw him with admiration, ter- 
ror, and astonishment, avoid with the utmost address the rocks and 
threatening gulfs, which they every instant expected to devour him. He 
disappeared, and rose again, till he at length gained the even surface ot 
the river, at the bottom of this dreadful cascade. The Indians considered 
it a miracle. They looked upon Putnam as invulnerable ; and they 
feared to offend the Great Spirit, by attempting the life of a man 80 
visibly under his immediate protection. 



CAPTAIN MOLLY. 

Before the two armies, American and English, had begun the gene- 
ral action of Monmouth, two of the advanced batteries commenced 
a very severe fire against each other. As the warmth was excessive, 
the wife of a cannonier constantly ran to bring him water from a neigh- 
boring spring. At the moment when she started from the spring, to 
pass the post of her husband, she saw him fall, and hastened to assist 




him ; but he was dead. At the same moment she heard an officer order 
the cannon to be removed from its place, complaining that he cou Id r\ot 



150 



ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. 



&11 his post by as brave a man as had been killed. " No," said the 
intrepid Molly, fixing her eyes upon the officer, " the cannon shall not 
be removed for the want of some one to serve it ; since my brave hus- 
band is no more, I will use my utmost exertions to avenge his death." 
The activity and courage with which she performed the office of can- 
nonier during the action, attracted the attention of all who witnessed it, 
finally of General Washington himself, who afterwards gave her the 
rank of Lieutenant, and granted her half-pay during life. She wore an 
epaulette, and every body called her Captain Molly. 



MAJOR BURNET'S CUE. 



In the battle of Germantown, Major Burnet, the aid-de-camp of Gene- 
ral Greene, wore a long cue after the fashion of the times, and as he 
tamed round to attend to a dismounted cannon, his cue was cut off bv a 




musKet ball from the enemy. " Don't hurry, my dear Major," cried 
Greene, laughing ; " pray dismount and get that long cue of yours , don't 
be ia haste." 



151 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES. 



AGRICULTURE. 



The chief agricultural occupations in the eastern States nre grazing and the dairy. The 
middle States are principally devoted to the cultivation ol wheat and maize ; the southern 
to that of tobacco, cotton, sugar, and rice ; and the western to maize and wheat. SIa\ o 
labor is chiefly employed in the southern States, and in some of the middle and western. 
The following are among the most important articles of the growth of the United States in 
1840: 

Bushels of wheat, 84,823,272 



rye, 
" oats, 

" potatoes, 

Pounds of cotton, . 
" rice, 
" tobacco, 
" sugar, 



377,.531,875 
18,645,567 
123,071,341 
108,298,060 
790,479,275 
80,841,422 
219,163,319 
155,110,809 



COMMERCE. 



The imports into the United States for the year ending 30th September, 1840, amount, 
ed to one hundred and seven millions, one hundred and forty.one thousand, five hundred 
and nineteen dollars. The exports of domestic produce for the same time, to one hun- 
dred and thirteen millions, eight hundred and ninety-five thousand, six hundred and 
thirty-four dollars ; of foreign produce, to eighteen millions, one hundred and ninety 
thousand, three hundred and twelve dollars. Total exports, pne hundred and thirty.two 
millions, eighty-five thousand, nine hundred and forty-six dollars. The most important 
exports are those of cotton, flour, rice, tobacco, beef, pork, lumber, cattle, and horsea. 
New Orleans has the greatest export trade, and New York the greatest imports. Most 
of the shipping is owned in the New England States and New York. 



MANUFACTURES. 



The value of the most important manufactures in 1840, was as follows: Manufacture! 
of wool, $20,696,999 ; manufactures of cotton, $46,350,453 ; mixed manufactures, 
$6,545,503; manufactures of tobacco, $5,819,568; of hats, caps, &.c., $8,704,343; 



152 GENERAL VIEW OF 

of leather, $33,134,403 ; of glass, $2,890,293 ; of refined sugars, &c., $3,250,700 ; of 
paper, $5,641,495; of cordage, $4,078,306; of carriages and wagons, $10,897,887. 
The total amount of capital invested in manufactures in 1840, was $267,726,579. In 
addition to the large establishments, it is estimated that two-thirds of the clothing worn 
by the agricultural population are the product of domestic manufactures. The greater 
portion of American manufactures are designed for internal consumption ; yet, in 1840, 
there were exported from the United States manufactured articles to the value of twelve 
millions, eight hundred and forty-eight thousand, eight hundred and forty dollars. 



FISHERIES. 



Nearly all the fisheries are carried on by the New England States. The whale fishery 
alone employs three hundred ships, averaging three hundred and forty tons each. The 
products of the American fisheries in 1840, were as follows : 773,947 quintals dried and 
smoked fish ; 472,359 barrels pickled fish ; 4,764,708 gallons spermaceti oil ; 7,536,778 
gallons whale and other fish oil. The amount of capital invested in the fisheries is 
$16,429,620. The mackerel and herring fishery is pursued along the northern coast, 
and the cod fishery on that of Labrador and the Newfoundland banks 



PUBLIC LANDS. 

The national domcln, or public lands, consists of tracts of territory ceded to the Gen. 
eral Government by the several States ; of the lands in the Territory of Louisiana, pur 
chased of France ; and those in Florida, acquired by treaty from Spain. A vast portion 
of this land is occupied by the Indians, who are considered as proprietors of the soil till 
the government extinguish their title by purchase. A General Land Office, at Washing- 
ton, directs the sale of these territories. All the lands are surveyed before sale ; they are 
divided into townships of six miles square, which are subdivided into sections of one 
mile square, containinj each si.\ hv.ndred and forty acres, and sold in sections, half, quar- 
ter, "nd -.all-quarters ctions. The minimum price is fixed by law at a dollar and a 
quarter. Ail sales are made for cash. Salt springs and lead mines are reserved, but may 
be sold iy special orders from the President. One section of six hundred and forty acres 
is reserved in each township, as a fund for the perpetual support of schools. By the act 
of Congress of 1841, the annual proceeds of the sales of the public lands are to be divided 
in equitable portions among the States, according to their representative population, after 
deducting expenses of sales, and certain reservations granted for the benefit of the States 
in which the lands are situated. By a proviso in the act, however, the proceeds of the 
lands are to revert to the treasury whenever the duties on imports are made to exceed a 
tariff of twenty per cent. 



REVENUE, EXPENDITURE, AND DEBT. 

The revenues of the United States have hitherto been derived from the customs, sales 
of lands, lead mines, the post-office, and stock held in the Bank of the United States. 
The only reliable source of revenue is now that derived from the customs. The total 
revenue from all sources, for the year 1840, was thirty millions, four hundred and ten 
thousand, one hundred and sixty-seven dollars. The expenditure for the same year, in- 
eluding interest on public loan, and interest and principal on treasury notes, thirty-two 
millions, twenty-five thousand, and seventy dollars. The amount of the public debt ex- 
isting in 1842, is about ten millions in treasury notes outstanding, and seventeen millions 
of authorized lian, making a total of about twenty-seven millions of dollars. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



153 



ARMY AND NAVY. 

The army consists of two regiments of dragoons, four regiments of artillery, and eight 
regiments of infantry, under the command of one Major-General and two Brigadier- 
Generals. The numerical force, according to the returns of 1841, presents a total of 
12,537. The navy consists of eleven ships of the line, fifteen frigates of the first class, 
two frigates of the second class, twenty-one sloops of war, four brigs, eight schooners, 
and five steam vessels. This estimate includes those upon the stocks, and the Home 
Squadron, established in 1841. 



POST-OFFICE. 



The post-roads in the United States amount to one hundred and fifty-five thousand, 
seven hundred and thirty-nine miles ; and the yearly transportation of the mail is equal to 
thirty-six millions, three hundred and seventy thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six 
miles ; namely, twelve millions, one hundred and eighty-two thousand, four hundred and 
forty-five miles by horse and sulky ; twenty millions, two hundred and ninety-nine thou- 
aand, two hundred and seventy-eight miles by stage and coach ; and three millions, eight 
hundred and eighty-nine thousand, and fifty-three miles by railroad and steamboat. The 
number of post-offices in the United States is thirteen thousand six hundred and thirty, 
eight. The expenses of the post-ofl[ice department in 1840 were four millions, seven 
hundred and fifty-nine thousand, one hundred and ten dollars. Receipts, four millions, 
five hundred and thirty-nine thousand, two hundred and sixty-five dollars. 



MINT. 

The Mint of the United States commenced operations at Philadelphia, in 1793, and 
the branches in North CaroUna, Georgia, and Louisiana, in 1838. Coinage of gold and 
silver bullion is performed free of expense to the owners. 

Statement of the Coinage at the Mint of the United States, for each successive period of 
ten years, from the commencement of its operations until December 31st, 1840. 



Years. 


GOLD. 


SILVER. ! 


No. of Pieces. 


Value. 


Number of Pieces. 


Value. 


1793 to 1800 
1801 to 1810 
1811 to 1820 
1821 to 1830 
1831 to 1840 

Total, 


134,842 
596,671 
633,302 
393,111 
3,938,409 


f 1,014,290-00 

3,250,742-50 

3,166,510-00 

1,903,092-50 

17,786,405-00 


1,852,545 

7,663,066 

13,445,962 

39,956,669 

78,664,217 


$ 1,440,454-75 
3,569,165-25 , 
5,970,810-95 j 
16,781,046-95 

26,344,454-00 1 

1 


5,696,335 


27,121,040-00 


141,582,459 


54,105,931-90 ' 


Yeare. 


COPPER. 


1 

TOTAL. 1 


No. of Pieces. 


Value. 


Number of Pieces. 


Value. j 


1793 to 1800 
1801 to 1810 
1811 to 1820 
1821 to 1830 
1831 to 1840 

Total, 


8,233,462 
17,416,446 
19,147,427 
15,836,220 
34,639,821 


$ 79,391-82 
151,246.39 
191,158-57 
151,412-20 
342,322-21 


10,220,849 
25,676,183 
33,226,691 
56,186,000 
117,242,437 


$ 2,534,136-57 

6,971,144-14 

9,328,479-52 

18,835,551-65 

44,473,181-21 


95,273,376 


915,53119 


242,552,160 


82,142,503-09 



164 GENERAL VIEW OF 

TAXATION. 

Congress possess the power to impose direct taxes ; but as this branch of tie revenne 
has been found one of the least productive, and the other sources of supply being abuiu 
dant, there is no taxation by the General Government. Each State levies its own tax for 
the expenses of its local government ; and each city or town provides, by taxation, for its 
own municipal concerns. 



SALARIES. 



The highest salary is that of the President, who receives twenty-five thousand dollars 
a year ; Ministers Plenipotentiary receive nine thousand dollars annually, and the same 
sum for an outfit ; the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, War, and the Navy, and the 
Postmaster General, six thousand ; the Vice-President, five thousand ; the Chief Justice, 
five thousand ; the Associate Justices, four thousand five hundred ; Charges des Affaires, 
four thousand five hundred ; Secretaries of Legation, two thousand ; members of Con- 
gress, eight dollars a day. 



NEWSPAPERS. 



The first paper printed in America, was the Boston News Letter ; the first number ol 
which was issued April 17th, 1704. In 1775, there were thirty.seven periodicals, of all 
sorts, published in different parts of the United States ; in 1810, three hundred and fifty, 
eight ; in 1828, eight hundred and two ; at present, there are above one thousand, of 
which fifty are daily. The number printed annually cannot be estimated with any degree 
of accuracy — by some, it is calculated at sixty.four millions. 



INTERNAL NAVIGATION. 

About two thousand five hundred miles of canal have been executed, or are in a tol 
erable state of forwardness. By means of these artificial channels, and the great lakes 
and western rivers, with which they open a communication, the internal navigation far 
surpasses in extent that of any other country in the world. The course upon a single 
line from New York up the Hudson, through the Erie Canal, Lake Erie, the Ohio Canal 
and river, up to the highest navigable point of the Missouri, would equal four thousand 
three hundred and twenty miles. 



165 



CHIEF CITIES. 



NEW YORK. 

The city of New York occupies the first rank among the cities of the western 
world, ibr population, wealth, and trade. Situated upon a noble harbor, at the mouth 
of one of the finest navigable rivers in the world, it enjoys a monopoly of the trade 
of a large and wealthy district of the interior. Hence, the increase of the city has 
kept pace with the development of trade and industry in the neighboring States. The 
rapid augmentation of population, commerce, and every material of prosperity which 
New York has witnessed in recent years, is almost without a parallel. Founded by 
the Dutch, in 1614, by the name of New Amsterdam, it did not for a century exceed 
Boston in point of numbers ; but with the settlement of the interior of the State, and 
the opening of the navigation of the great lakes, New York has received an im- 
pulse, which, added to other advantages, has established its present and secured its 
future pre-eminence. In respect to commerce, it is already the second city in the 
world. 

It stands on the southern point of an island, at the mouth of the Hudson ; on the 
east, the shore of tliis island is watered by a deep channel, called East River, which 
separates it from Long Island, and affords a navigable communication between New 
York harbor and Long Island Sound. The harbor extends nine miles south of the 
city, to the sea. The first settlement was made at the southern extremity, conse- 
quently that portion of the city is composed of narrow, crooked, inconvenient streets, 
and unsightly old buildings ; but the more modem parts, and especially those which 
have grown vip within twenty years, are regular and commodious. The finest street 
is Broadway, which traverses the whole city in a straight line from north to south, 
being three miles in length, and eighty feet in breadth. It is occupied chiefly by 
shops and elegant public buildings, and few streets in the world equal it for the 
splendor, bustle, and fashion it exhibits. The Battery is an inclosed promenade, 
on the shore at the southern extremity of the city ; it is planted with trees, and 
though not extensive, is pleasant, much frequented, and offers a delightful view of 
the harbor. 

The Park is a triangular inclosure of eleven acres, in the centre of the city ; upon 
one side of this stands the City Hall, an elegant structure with a front of white marble. 
It is two hundred and sixteen feet long, and one hundred and five broad ; and is one 
of the finest buildings in the country. The Merchants' Exchange, in Wall-street, is 
handsomely built of white marble. The United States Branch Bank is aJso a fine 
marble structure. St. Paul's Chapel is esteemed one of the finest buildings in the 
city ; its spire is two hundred and thirty-four feet high. St. John's Chapel has a spire 
two hundred and forty feet in height, and is the most costly church in the city ; hav- 
ing been built at the expense of two hundred thousand dollars. St. Patrick's Cathe- 
dral, a Roman Catholic edifice, is the largest of all the churches, and is of stone, one 
hundred and twenty feet long, an(^ eighty feet wide. There are more than one hundred 
additional churches, some of them very costly. Trinity Church is a Gothic edifice 
of stone, and belongs to the oldest and richest Episcopal estabUshment in America, 
possessing a property to the amount of several miUions of dollars. 

Packets sail from N aw York, to Liverpool and London, every week ; to Havre 
every ten days ; and to Hull, Green wichj Belfast, Vera Cruz, Cartiagena, and all the 



156 



GENERAL VIEW OF 



chief ports of the United States, at different times. Fifty steam-boats constantly pass 
between New York and the towns on the Hudson, Long Island Sound, and other 
waters in the neighborhood. There are sixty-one banks in the city ; twenty-eight 
insurance companies ; four hundred and sixty-three schools ; forty bookstores ; four 
hundred and fifty la-wyers ■ ninety-eight clergymen ; fifty auctioneers ; three hundred 
oyster shops ; fifty-six lottery offices ; three thousand licensed groceries and taverns ; 
two thousand three hundred and eighty licensed cartmen and porters ; two thousand 
one hundred and ten paupers in the almshouse. The real estate of the city is valu- 
ed at eighty-seven million, six hundred and three thousand, three hundred and 
eighty-nine dollars ; the personal estate, at thirty-seven million, six hundred and 
eighty-four thousand, nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars : total, one hundred and 
twenty -five million, two hundred and eighty-eight thousand, five hundred and eigh- 
teen dollars. 



PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia, the second city of the United States, in size, is situated on the west 
bank of the Delaware, one hundred and twenty-six miles from the sea. The river 
is navigable for ships of the line, up to the city. It lies three miles along this river, 
and its western limit is washed by the Schuylkill, which falls into the Delaware 
about six miles below. The ground on which the city stands is an almost unbroken 
level ; so that it exhibits no striking appearance as the spectator approaches it. The 
streets are perfectly rectangular ; and Philadelphia is, probably, the most regular 
and uniform city in the world. It is at the same time one of the most agreeable. 
The climate is fine, the city remarkably clean, and abundantly supplied with the 
best of water. To this we may add, that the markets are among the best in the 
country, while the expenses of living are one fourth less than in Boston, and one 
third less than in New York. The streets are from fifty to one hundred and thirteen 
feet wide. The houses are mostly of brick, much darker in color than in the Eastern 
States, and resembling, at a short distance, the common red sandstone. The streets 
are generally paved and kept clean. The handsomest of the public buildings in the 
city, and perhaps in this country, is the United Slates Bank, in Chesnut-street. It is 




UiiUfJ States B.-Viik.< 



of white marble, with a front on the model of the Parthenon. It never fails to exate 
an agreeable emotion when first seen by a stranger. The Old Bank has an elegsmt 
marble front, of the Corinthian order, but the effect is much injured by the sides 
bemg of brick. 



THE UNITED STATES. 157 

The Bank of Pennsylvania is also a handsome marble edifice . The State-House 
IS a somewhat antiquated structure, and is chiefly remarkable for containing th«» 
hall in which the Declaration of Independence was signed ; adjoining this building 
is a beautiful inclosed walk, planted with trees. Another handsome public walk u. 
Washington-square . 

The city and suburbs have large manufactures of cotton, iron, glass, and china 
ware, besides the great variety of articles made in small establishments. The cloth 
annually manufactured, is estimated at twenty-four million of yards. In point of 
commerce, Philadelphia is the fourth city in the u'nion ; the shipping amounted in 
1828, to one hundred and four thousand, and eighty tons 



BALTIMORE. 



Baltimore, upon the Patapsco, fourteen miles from the Chesapeak, is a large city, 
and the chief commercial mart for all the country upon the bay and its waters. It is 
finely situated, and regularly built, chiefly of brick ; the public buildings and monu- 
ments indicate, by their splendor, a high degree of wealth and enterprise in the 
inhabitants. The Catholic Cathedral is an edifice in the Ionic style, one hundred 
and ninety feet long, and one hundred and seventy-seven wide, surmounted by a 
dome and cross, which rise to the height of one hundred and twenty-seven feet, it 
has some fine paintings, and the largest church organ in the United States, contaimng 
six thousand pipes. The Merchants' Exchange is two hundred and fifty-five feet in 
front, and contains a hall eighty-six feet in length, lighted from a dome, ninety feet 
above the floor. St. Paul's Church, the Unitarian Church, the Court-House, and the 
Union Bank, are also elegant buildings. 

The trade of Baltimore is great, and it may be considered the best flour market in 
the world. In commerce, it is the third city in the United States. The harbor is 
good, although vessels larger than two hundred tons, cannot ascend below the lower 
sv.burb, called Fell's Point ; this is separated from the city by a small stream, over 
which there are several bridges. The shipping of Baltimore amounted, in 1828, to 
one hundred and six thousand, three hundred and three tons. There are within twen- 
ty miles of the city, above sixty flour mills ; one of which has ground thirty-two thou- 
sand barrels in a year. Within the same space^there are also twelve cotton manu- 
factories, and various others of cloth, powder,^ paper, iron, copper, glass, steam- 
engines, chemical works, &c. 



BOSTON. 



Boston, the largest city in the New England States, and the capital of Massachu- 
setts, stands on an oblong peninsula at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay, having a 
beautiful harbor shut in from the sea by a group of islands. The peninsula is hilly, 
and in almost every part covered with buildings ; the city exhibits a noble appear- 
ance as the spectator sails up the harbor, or approaches it from the country. This 
splendid exterior, however, has not a corresponding regularity and symmetry within. 
The city was built, almost from the beginning, without any regard to plan, beauty, or 
future convenience, and the streets were left to fashion themselves into a tortuous 
intricacy that might have excited the envy of Daedalus of old. We must except, how- 
ever, the happy reservation of the vacant spot called the Common, originally a cow 
pasture for the house-keepers of 'the town, but now a public park and promenade ol 
unrivalled beauty. In the more ancient parts of the city, the streets are still narrow 
and crooked, and a great proportion of the buildings are of wood. 

In the western and central parts, a style of elegance and comparative regularity 
prevails. Many of the streets are neat and spacious, and the improvements which 



158 GENERAL VIEW OF 

are going on yearly, in widening the old streets, and opening new ones, have done, 
and are doing Tinch lo remedy the defects of the original plan. In the greater part 
of the city the houses are either of brick or stone, and the old wooden structures are 
fast disappearing. A large number of the public edifices are of striking elegance, 
and the private buildings surpass in splendor those of any other city in the United 
States. 

The largest building in the city is Fanueil Hall Market, a granite structure, two 
stories in height, and five hundred and thirty-six feet long. The centre has a dome, 
and at each end is a portico of four columns, each of an entire stone. This is the 
most elegant market in the United States, and probably in the world ; on either hand 
it fronts on a spacious street, one, sixty-five, and the other one hundred and two feet 
in width, both showing a solid front of stone stores of uniform height and appearance. 
Old Faneuil Hall stands west of this spot ; it is a lofty brick edifice, and the spacious 
galleries of its interior, still witness the throngs and the oratory of popular meetings. 
Painting and repairs have a little modernized the aspect of this venerable pile. The 
Old State-House, now the City Hall, is another relic of ancient architecture, and the 
scene of many events in revolutionary history. In this building are now the Merchants' 
Reading room, the Postoffice, and other public offices. 

The wharves of Boston surpass those of any seaport of the United States, for size and 
convenience. Long Wharf at the bottom of State-street, is sixteen hundred and fifty 
feet long, and has a line of lofty brick stores nearly its whole extent. Central Wharf is 
twelve hundred and forty feet in length, and one hundred and fifty wide, and contains 
fifty-four stores in a single pile, with a spacious observatory in the centre, where telegra- 
phic signals are received from the islands in the bay. India Wharf has a double row of 
stores, six stories high ; all these wharves have spacious docks, and wide and convenient 
landings, carriage ways, &c. 

The Massachusetts General Hospital is a beautiful stone edifice, much commended 
for the convenience of its interior arrangements. The Houses of Industry and Cor- 
rection, on the peninsula of South Boston, but within the city limits, are of stone, 
each two hundred and twenty feet long, and of a uniform architecture. The CourU 
house and jail, in Leverett-street, are of stone, and comprise three well built edifices. 
The United States Bank, in State-street, is a well built structure, but more remarka- 
ble for strength than classic proportion ; the columns in front are the largest in the 
city, and are each of a single stone. The Washington Bank has a more symmetri- 
cal design and better efiect. The Masonic Temple is a new building of granite, and 
has a fine front. 



NEW ORLEANS. 



New Orleans, the seat of government of Louisiana, and the commercial mart of all 
the western country, stands on the northern bank of the Mississippi, at a spot where 
the river makes a great bend to the north-east. It is one hundred and five miles 
above the mouth of the stream, by its windings, and ninety in a direct line. The ground 
is level, and the neighborhood a swamp. It consists of three divisions ; the city proper, 
and the fauxbourgs or suburbs of St. Marie and Marigny, The two first are compactly 
built, and in all parts the streets are straight and regular, generally at right angles. In 
the city, the houses are built in the French and Spanish style, and are stuccoed of a 
white or yellow color. The fauxbourg St. Marie is built in the American fashion, and 
resembles one of our Atlantic cities. 

As a place of trade, New Orleans has immense advantages. It is the outport for all 
the commerce of the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is accessible for ships of the 
largest size, and its levee is constantly crowded with all kinds of maritime and river craft. 
In the cotton season, its streets are barricadoed with bales. There are often fifteen hundred 
flat boats in the harbor at a time. Steam-boat3 arrive and depart every hour, and fifty 
may be often seen together. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



159 



ALBANY. 

Albany is the seat of government of New York, and in point of wealth, population^ 
trade, and resources, is the second city in the State. It is situated on the west bank 
of the Hudson, one hundred and sixty miles above New York, near the head of tide- 
water. It was settled by the Dutch, in 1612, and, next to Jamestown in Virginia, is 
the oldest settlement in the United States. 

Albany is a place of great trade, and, during the session of the Legislature, it is 
much crowded with strangers. The basin, where the canal joins the Hudson, is 
formed by an artificial pier, eighty feet in width, and four thousand and three hun- 
dred feet long. It is connected with the shore by drawbridges, and covered with 
stores ; in which immense quantities of lumber and merchandise are deposited. The 
basin contains a surface of thirty-two acres. The neighborhood of Albany is plea- 
sant, and many beautiful and thriving villages are within a short distance. This 
city has a library of eight thousand volumes, eleven newspapers, and a populatioa 
of twenty-four thousand, two hundred and thirty-eight. 



CHARLESTON. 



Charleston, the commercial metropolis, and formerly the seat of government of 
South Carolina, is built upon a point of land at the junction of Ashley and Cooper 
rivers. Its harbor is capacious, but difficult of entrance. The city is regularly 
iHiilt, and though the site is low the approach to it by water is particularly fine. 
Many of the streets are very handsome, and most of the houses are furnished with 
three piazz?" uch story. In the outer part.s of the city, the houses are surround- 
ed with garc / nd ornamented by trees ami shrubbery. Groves of orange and 
peach trees i; ~ \n, present here a most inviting appearance to the traveller, who 
arrives fromt. , th in the early season. Population in 1830, 30,289 



CINCINNATI. 

Cincinnati, the largest city in Ohio, and indeed in all the western country, stands 
on the northern bank of the Ohio, near the south-western corner of the State. Its 




City of Cincinnati- 
Site is the eastern part of an alluvial tract, bounded on the north by a ridge of I. ills 



tm 



GENERAL VIEW OF 



This plain contains about four square miles, and consists of two differen levels, one 
about fifty feet higher than the other. The city rises gradually from the river, but 
does not make a very bold or striking appearance. It is built with perfect regularity, 
)ii the plan of Philadelphia. The principal streets are sixty-six feet in Avidth. The 
central part is ver)' compact, yet the whole outline of the city is but partially filled 
up, and the greater portion of the buildings are scattered irregularly about. Some 
of the public edifices are of stone or brick, and many of the stores and houses aie 
of brick. Here are four markets, twenty-three churches, a branch of the United 
States Bank, a medical coUege, eighteen public schools, a hospital, a theatre, ten news- 
papers, (two of which are daily,) and many manufactories of iron, brass, copper, 
cotton, woolen, paper, &c. The city has a vast trade by the river and canal. 

Cincinnati occupies the site of old Fort "Washington ; and the outlines of the city 
were marked in 1789. There were five hundred inhabitants here in 1795, and nine 
bundled and fifty in 1805. The first settlers were principally from New England 
and New Jersey. Since the peace of 1814, the city has augmented with wonderful 
rapidity ; and in 1830, contained a population of twenty-six thousand, five hundred 
and fifteen. 



PITTSBURG. 



Pittsburg, in the west of Pennsylvania, is the next, in this State, in importance to 
Philadelphia. It stands upon a point of land at the junction of the Alleghany and 
Monongahela rivers, which here take the name of Ohio. It is built on a regular plan, 
upon the slope of an eminence, and a level plain at its foot. It is finely situated for 




if Pittsburg. 



trade, and enjoys a communication by steam-boats, with all the great towns on the 
Ohio and Mississippi ; but it is most distinguished for its large and flourishing 
manufactures of glass, iron, woolen, and cotton. The surrounding country is ex- 
ceedingly rich in bituminous coal, which is deUvered at the houses for three cents 
the bushel. The constant use of this fuel causes a perpetual cloud of black smolw 
to hang over the place. 



WASHINGTON. 

Washington, the seat of government of the United States, stands in the centre of 
Jie District of Columbia, upon the north bank of the Potomac, between the rver and 



THE UNITED STATES. 



161 



one of its tributaries, called the East Branch. The actual city occupies a spot about a 
mile and a lalf above the junction of the two streams, although the original plan 
embraces tlie whole extent below. 

The buildings which it contains, are in three distinct pars, one portion bemg in 
the neighborhood of the navy yard, another in that of the Ca.)itol, and another in the 
Pennsylvania Avenue, which extends from the Capitol to the President's house. The 
city presents the appearance of a group of villages, the spaces between the inhabited 
parts not being occupied or marked out. 

The Capitol is a large and magnificent building, of white freestone, three hundred 
and fifty-two feet long, in the shape of a cross, with the Representatives Hall and the 
Senate Chamber in the two wings, and a spacious rotunda in the centre. 

The President's house is an elegant structure of freestone, one hundred and seventy 
feet in front and two stories in height, ornamented with an Ionic portico. It stands 
about a mile west of the Capitol. It is surrounded with the offices of the heads of 
departments. At the patent office, is kept a collection of all the models of patent 
inventions in the country. The navy yard, on the east branch, exliibits a monument 
to the American officers who fell in the war with Tripoli. 

There are few other buildings worthy of notice for their architecture. The office 
of the Department of State, is a large edifice of brick, with a portico in front • and 




United States Department. 

there are two or three others of the same size and construction. There are two 
public free schools in the city. Two bridges cross the eastern branch, and one, the 
main stream of the Potomac, at Washington. 



CANALS. 



ERIE AND HUDSON CANAL. 

New York surpasses every State in the Union for canals. The great !^rie and 
Hudson Canal, from Albany to Buffalo, was begun in 1817, and finished in 1825, at 
the cost of above nine millions of dollars. It is three hundred and sixty-tht 'e miles 
long, forty feet wide, and foui feet deep. 



162 



GENERAL VIEW OF 



In the whole length of the canal, are eighty-three locks and eighteen aqtiedncts 
The locks are built in the most durable manner, of stone laid in water lime, and 
are each ninety feet long and fifteen wide. Lake Erie is five hundred and sixty- 
five feet above the Hudson at Albany, and the whole rise and fall of lockage on the 
canal is six hundred and eighty-eight feet. One of the aqueducts crosses the Gene- 
see river, at Rochester, and is eight hundred and four feet in length. Another 
aqueduct crosses the Mohawk, at Little Falls, on three arches of fifty and seventy 




Aqueduct of (he Erie Canal. 

feet span ; two others cross the same river, one seven hundred and forty-eight feet, 
and the other eleven hundred and eighty-eight feet in length. The sides of the canal 
are sometimes paved with stone, and sometimes covered with thick grass, to hinder 
the soil from wasliing away. A tow path four feet above the surface of the water, 
and ten feet wide, runs the whole length of the canal. A number of side cuts branch 
off from the canal to different places ; one of these, from Syracuse to Oswego, is thirty- 
eight miles long ; another from Montezuma to Cayuga and Seneca Lake, twenty miles. 
The canal boats, for the conveyance of passengers, are generally eighty feet in 
length, and fourteen in width, drawing from one to two feet of water. The cabin 
occupies nearly the whole length of the deck, and is eight feet in height, with single 
bertlis on each side for thirty persons. They are drawn by three horses, and proceed 
day and night four miles an hour ; relays are furnished every eight or ten miles. 
Boats with merchandise go about fifty-five miles in twenty-four hours ; the passage 
boats make, including delays, eighty-five miles progress in the same time. The 
navigation upon this great canal is prodigious, and the work does honor to the saga- 
city and enterprise of those who planned it'. 



CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE CANAL. 

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal crosses the northern part of Delaware, unitui|, 
the two bays. It is fourteen miles long, sixty feet wide, and ten feet deep, with locl^ 
one hundred feet in length, and twenty-two feet wide. It begins at Delaware city, 
forty-six miles below Philadelphia, and passes westerly to Back Creek, a navigable 
branch of Elk river. The Deep Cut is the name given to the passage of this canal, 
for fiHir miles, through a hill ninety feet in height, being the deepest cut upon any 
canal in the world. The Summit Bndge, which crosses the canal at the cut, is a 



THE UNITED STATES. 



163 



single arch, two hundred and fifty-five feet in length. Heie the sides cf the canal 
are secured by walls of stone, and the high banks are in some places thatched witb 




The Deep Cut of ihe Delaware Canal. 

Straw to prevent their washing into the canal. East of this spot, the canal is carried 
through deep marshes ; the foundation and embankments were executed at great 
expense. At every half mile are recesses for the passing of vessels, where the width 
of the canal is increased to one hundred and ten feet. At its junction with the Dela- 
ware, is an artificial harbor, or large basin, of a semicircular shape. This canal was 
begun in 1823, and completed in six years, at the cost of more than two million of 
dollars. The navigation upon it is great and increasing. In the tables, towards the 
close, we have given a list of the principal canals in the United States, with their 
distances. 



COAL MINES. 



COAL. 



In no part of the world is anthracite coal found so abundantly as in Pennsyl- 
vania. It abounds in the Wyoming and Lackawanna valley, between the Blue 
Ridge and the Susquehanna. The anthracite district is principally occupied by 
mountains running parallel to the Blue Ridge, often broad, with table summits, and 
rising generally about fifteen hundred feet above the ocean. These mountains are 
mostly in a state of nature, harboring wolves, bears, cougars, deer, and other wild 
animals. 

The coal occurs in the greatest quantity in those parts of this region most accessi- 
ble by water. Extensive veins and beds range from the Lehigh to the Susque- 
hanna, crossing the headwaters of the Schuylkill and Swatara, about ten miles 
north-west of the Blue Ridge. It is abundant near the Susquehanna, and Lacka- 
wanna, but in no part is it so plentiful as at Mauch Chunk, a village on the Lehigh, 
a branch of the Susquehanna. 

The anthracite region of the Susquehanna lies in the valley formed by the Sus- 
quehanna ajid the Lackawanna, one of its branches ; this region is distinguished as 



164 



GENERAL VIEW OF 



the valleys of the Wyoming and Lackawanna, but is in fact withe ut any natural 
dinsion, and constitutes a single formation. It it between sixty and seventy miles 
long, and five broad. The double barrier of nearly parallel mountains, through 
whose included valley flow the Susquehanna and Lackawanna, is a perfectly well 
defined coal formation, and its geological structure is very interesting. 

The coal lies in beds, and not as commonly, in veins ; these are of every thick- 
ness, from a foot to twenty-seven feet : none are much esteemed that are less than 
three or foiu-; few are wrought that are less than six. The lateral extent of the beds 
is immense ; they break out in the precipices and hills, and upon the banks of the 
Susquehanna and Lackawamia, and form in some places the pavement of these 
rivers. They appear in the sides and channels of almost every stream from the 
mountains ; they blacken the soil in numerous places, and wells are often sunk in 
the coal. 




The western part of Pennsylvania is as abundantly supplied with bitummous coal, 
as the eastern is with anthracite. It is found on the rivers Coneniaugh, Alleghany, 
Mon >Uj; jhdla, and Ohio, and in numerous places west of the Alleghany ridge, which 
ts, wiih some exceptions, its eastern boundary. The veins are generally narrow, 
nrely above six feet in width. The coal is abundant, and of excellent quality, near 
PittsLcrg. 



COMMERCE. 

Exports and Imports during the year ending Sept. 30, 1840. 

mports, $107,141,519 

Exports of Domestic Produce, 113,895,634 

Exports of Foreign Produce, 18,190,312 

Total Exports, . . . $132,085,946 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES. 166 



APPORTIONMENT* OF REPRESENTATIVES TO CONGRESS. 



Maine, 7 

New Hampshire, 4 

Massachusetts, 10 

Rhode Island, 2 

Connecticut, 4 

Vermont, 4 

New York, 34 

New Jersey, 5 

Pennsylvania, 24 

Delaware, 1 

Maryland, 6 

Virginia, 15 

North Carolina, 9 



South Carolina, 7 

Georgia, 8 

Kentucky, 10 

Tennessee, 11 

Ohio, 21 

Indiana, 10 

Mississippi, 4 

Illinois, 7 

Louisiana, 4 

Missouri, 5 

Alabama, 7 

Michigan, 3 

Arkansas, 1 



* This apportionment, which took place 25th June, 1842, is in the ratio of one Representative for every 
70,680 inhabitants. 



166 



CHRONOLOGICAL LIST 

OF THE OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



FIRST ADMLNISTRATION— 1789 TO 1797—8 YEARS. 



George Washington, 
John Adams, 



Virginia, 
MassachuseliSj 



Thomas Jefferson, 
Edmund Randolph, 
Timothy Pickering, 
Alexander Hamilton, 
Oliver Wolcott, 

Henry Knox, 
Timothy Pickering 
James M'Henry, 



April 30, 1789. 

do. 1789. 

Appointed. 

Sept. 26, 1789. 

Jan. 

Dec. 



President. 
Vice President. 



Virginia, 

do. Jan. 2, 1794. 

Massachusetts, Dec. 10, 1795. 

New Vork, Sept. U, 1789. 

Connecticut, Feb. 3, 1795. 

Massachusetts, Sept. 12, 1789. 

do. Jan. 2, 1795. 

Maryland, Jan. 27, 1796. ) 

SECOND ADMINISTRATION— 1797 TO 1801-4 \T;ARS. 
Massachusetts, March 4, 1797. President 
Virginia, do. 1797. 

Appointed. 
Massachusetts (^contmuedin oJ[fice.) 
Virginia, May 13, 1800. 

Connecticut, (continued in office.) 
JMassachusetts, Dec. 31, 1800. 
Maryland, {continued in office.) 
Massachusetts, May 13, 1800. 
Connecticut, Feb. 3, 1801. 

Massachusetts, May 3, 1798. 
Maryland, May 21, 1798. 

THIRD ADMINISTRATION— 1801 TO 1809—8 YEARS. 
Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, March 4, 1801. President 

New York do. 1801. 

do. do. 1805. 

Appointed. 
Virginia, March 5, 1801. 

Massachusetts, {continued in office.) 
Pennsylvania, Jan. 26, 1802. 
Massachusetts, March 3, 1801. 

Maryland, {contijiued in office.) 
do. Jan. 26, 1802. 

FOURTH ADMINISTRATION— 1809 TO 1817—8 YEARS 

Virginia, March 4, 1809. 

N. Y., 1809, {d. April 20, 1812.) 

Mass., 1813, \d. Nov. 23, 1814.) 

Appointed. 

Robert Smith Maryland, March 6, 1809. 

Jaunes Monroe, Virginia, Nov. 25, 1811. 

James Monroe, do. Feb. 28, 1815. 



.loiiN Adams, 
'ITiomas Jefferson, 

Timothy Pickering, 
John Marshall, 
Oliver Wolcott, 
Samuel Dexter, 
James M'Henry, 
Samuel Dexter, 
Roger Griswoki, 
George Cabot, 
Benjamin Stoddert, 



Aaron Burr, 
George Clinton, 

James Madison, 
Samuel Dexter, 
Albert Gallatin, 
Henry Dearborn, 
Benjamin Stoddert, 
Robert Smith, 



James Madison, 
George Clinton, 
Elbridge Gerry. 



Secretaries of State. 

Secretaries of the 
Treasury. 

Secretaries of War 



Vice President. 

Secretaries of State. 

Secretaries of the 
Treasury. 

} Secretaries of Wa :. 

I Secretaries of the Navy. 



Vice Presidents. 

Secretary of State. 
Secretaries of the 

Treasury. 
Secretary of War. 

Secretaries of the Navy. 



President. 
Vice Presidents. 

Secretaries of State. 



OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES, 



167 



Albert GaUatin, Pennsylvania, {contimied in office.) 

George W. Campbell, Tennessee, Feb. 9, 1814. 

Alexander J. Dallas, Pennsylvania, Oct. 6, 1814. 

William Eustis, Massachusetts, March 7, 1809. 

John Armstrong, New York, Jan. 13, 1813. 

James Monroe, Virginia, Sept. 27, 1814. 

William H. Crawford, Georgia, March 2, 1815. 

Paul Hamilton, South Carolina, March 7, 1809. 

William Jones, Pennsylvania, Jan. 12, 1813. 

B. W. Crowninshield, Massachusetts, Dec. 19, 1814. 



Secretaries 

of the 
Treasury. 

Secretaries of War 



Secretaries of the Navy. 



FIFTH ADMINISTRATION— 1817 TO 1825—8 YEARS. 



James Monroe, 
Daniel D. Tompkins, 



Virginia, 
New York, 



President. 
Vice President. 



John Q. Adams, Massachusetts, 

William H. Crawford, Georgia, 



Isaac Shelby, 
John C. CaUioun, 
B. W. Crowninshield, 
Smith Thompson, 
Samuel L. Southard, 



John Q. Adams, 
John C. Calhoun, 

Henry Clay, 
Ridnard Rush, 
James Barbour, 
Peter B. Porter, 
Samuel L. Southard, 



March 4, 1817. 
do. 1817. 
Appointed. 

March 5, 1817. 

March 5, 1817. 

March 5, 1817. 

Dec. 16, 1817. 
Massachusetts, {continued in office.) 
New York, Nov. 30, 1818. 

New Jersey, Dec. 9, 1823. 

SIXTH ADMINISTRATION— 1825 TO 1829^ YEARS. 

Massachusetts, March 4, 1825. President. 

do. 1825. 

Appointed. 

March 8, 1825. 

March?, 1825. 

do. 1825. 

May 26, 1828. 

(continued in office.) 



Kentucky, 
South Carolina, 



South Carolina, 

Kentucky, 
Peimsylvania, 
Virginia, 
New York, 
New Jersey, 



Secretary of State. 
Secretary of the Treas 

Secretaries of War. 
Secretaries of the Navy 



Vice President. 

Secretary of State 
Secretary of the Treas, 

Secretaries of War. 

Secretary of the Naw. 



SEVENTH ADMINISTRATION— 1829 TO 1837-8 YEARS. 



Akdrew Jackson, 
John C. Calhoun, 
Martin Van Buren, 
Martin Van Buren, 
Edward Livingston, 
Louis McLane, 
John Forsyth, 
Samuel D. Ingham, 
Louis McLane, 
William J. Duane, 
Roger B. Taney, 
Levi Woodbury, 
John H. Eaton, 
Lewis Cass, 



Tennessee, 

South Carolina, 

New York, 

New York, 

Louisiana, 

Delaware, 

Georgia, 

Pennsylvania, 

Delaware, 

Pennsylvania, 

Maryland, 

N. Hampshire, 

Tennessee, 

Michigan, 



March 4, 1829. 
do. 1829. 
do. 1833. 



President. 
Vice Presidents. 



Benj. F. Butler, (ach'ng) New York, 
John Branch, North Carolina, 



Levi Woodbury, 
Mahlon Dickerson, 
John McLean, 
William T. Barry, 
.Ajuos Kendall, 



N. Hampshire, 
New Jersey, 
Ohio, 
Kentucky, 
Kentucky, 



■ Secretaries of State. 



Secretaries of the Treasozy. 



I Secretaries of War. 

I Secretaries of the Navy. 

i Postmasters General ; now first co» 
sidered as Cabinet Officers. 



168 



OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Martin Van Buken, 
Richard M. Johnson, 
John Forsyth, 
Levi Woodbury, 
Joel R. Poinsett, 
Mahlon Dickerson, 
James K. Paulding, 
Amos Kendall, 
John M. Niles, 



EIGHTH ADMINISTRATION— 1837. 
New York, March 4, 1837. President. 

Kentucky, do. 1837. Vice-President. 

Georgia, (continued in office.) Secretary of State. 

New Hampshire, (contin'd in office.) Secretary of the Treasury. 
South Carolina, March 5, 1837. Secretary of War. 

New YoTf ' i Secretaries of the Navy. 

Kentucky, \continued in office.) ) pogtmastera General 
Connecticut, ^ 

NINTH ADMINISTRATION— 1841. 



William Henry Harrison, Ohio, 



March 4, 1841. President. 



John Tyler, 
Daniel Webster, 
Thomas Ewing, 
John Bell, 
George E. Badger, 
Francis Granger, 



John Tyler, 
Daniel Webster, 
Thomas Ewing, 
Walter Forward, 
John Bell, 
John C. Spencer, 
George E. Badger, 
Abel P. Upshur, 
Francis Granger, 
Charles A. Wickliffe, 



Virginia, 
Massachusetts, 
Ohio, 

Tennessee, 
North Carolina, 
New York, 



do. 1841. 
March 5, 1841. 
do. 1841. 
do. 1841. 
do. 1841. 
do. 1841. 



Vice-President. 
Secretary of State. 
Secretary of the Treasury 
Secretary of War. 
Secretary of the Navy 
Postmaster General. 



TENTH ADMINISTRATION— 1841. 
Virginia, April 6, 1841. President. 

Massachusetts, (continued in office.) Secretary of State. 

T, '*'' , > Secretaries of the Treasury. 

Pennsylvania, S 

Tennessee, (a . ■ r-.T.r 

TVT xr 1 } Secretaries of War. 

New York, ^ 

y. "^ . . ' > Secretaries of the Navy. 

Kemulk?' (postmasters General. 



THE UNITED STATES. 

The thirteen United Colonies, which first adopted and issued the immortal Declaration 
of Independence, entered into the confederation of 1778, and formed the constitution of 
1789, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia. All the other States which are now members of the Union have hevn 
since admitted, in the following order, viz : 

Vermont, which was separated from New York, was admitted into iDe Union in the 
year 1794. 

Tennessee, which was separated from North Carolina, was admitted 1796. 

Kentucky, originally a part of the territory of Virginia, was admitted 1798. 

Ohio, which was formed from land north-west of the Ohio river, that had been ceded 
to the General Government by the States to which it belonged, was admitted 1803. 

Louisiana, formed from the Louisiana purchase, admitted 1812. 

Indiana, from a portion of what is called the North-West Territory, admitted A816 

Mississippi, from part of the territory of Georgia, admitted 1817. 

Lhnois, from the North-West Territory, admitted 1819. 

Alabama, from part of Georgia, admitted 1819. 

Maine, which was separated from Massachusetts, admitted 1820. 

Missouri, formed from a part of the Louisiana purchase, admitted 18P^ 

Arkansas, from a portion of the Louisiana purchase, admitted 1836. 

Michigan, which was constituted a territory in 1805, admitted 1836. 



645 



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